Spectacular Specter: The Origin of Phantom
by KimuraSato
Summary: Life had always been fairly mundane for Danny Fenton. School, friends, bullies, and family life. But his world gets turned upside down after an accident gives him strange new powers. As he learns how to control his powers, he discovers a purpose for them. (Dan x Danny)
1. Chapter 1

**Spectacular Specter  
****The Origin of Phantom**

**Summary:** Life had always been fairly mundane for Danny Fenton. School, friends, bullies, and family life. But his world gets turned upside down after an accident gives him strange new powers. As he learns how to control his powers, he discovers a purpose for them.

**Characters:** Dan x Danny

**Written:** May 2014-?

**Note: **Inspired by talks with akiwitch and fastpacedfreefall, who gave me advice and suggestions on some things.

**Chapter 01**

Danny yawned, covering his wide opened mouth with one hand as his sister parked her car in a slot of the school parking lot. When he finished, he glanced up at the building then sank down in the passenger's seat. Another day at school. Wonderful. He already spotted some of the jocks by the back entrance of the school picking on one of the nerds he had seen around sometimes though he wasn't sure of the short man's name. He had stringy brown hair and buck teeth, which earned him a lot of teasing. Danny sighed internally, not looking forward to the bullying he knew was to come.

"You should lay off those late night video game sessions," his sister teased, giving him a poke in the ribs.

"Ugh, Jazz!" Danny complained, swatting at the hand. He twisted around in his seat and snatched up his bag from where he tossed it before climbing into the passenger's seat when they left for school. "We can't all be perfect little students who do nothing but study all the time." After he got out of the car, he slammed the door shut.

"I do more than study," Jazz argued, grabbing her own bag from the back before she got out of the car. "I _do_ have friends, you know." Her aqua eyes narrowed at him as she clutched a baby blue notebook to her chest, falling into step beside her brother as they headed toward the back entrance of the school.

"Do you?" Danny wore a teasing grin as Jazz gave him a shove and huffed indignantly at him.

"You know," Jazz slid her gaze toward him as her mouth pulled downward, "you could really learn to take on some more responsibility. You're not going to be a teen forever. You should try showing a bit more maturity."

Danny rolled his blue eyes and resisted the urge to groan in agony. "Jazz, we aren't going to be teens forever is _exactly_ why you should loosen up every now and then. Come on, sis!" He dropped his hands onto her shoulders and gave her a small shake as he grinned. He felt a smug swell in his chest as he noted he had gained an inch or two over his older sister. "Have some fun for once."

"I have fun," Jazz said as she pulled open the back entrance for them. Luckily, they arrived after the jocks had moved on, spotting their other football buddies to do whatever else jocks did besides act like jerks to everyone they deemed not cool. "_You_ are definitely the one who needs to step it up on the responsibility side."

Danny shook his head as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. "Whatever you say, Jazz, but I think our definitions of fun differ greatly. I'll catch you after school." He broke away from his sister and headed over to where he spotted his friends hanging out around their lockers.

"I have that student council meeting tonight," Jazz called to him. "So you're on your own for getting home unless you want to wait."

Danny did groan this time, thinking about how boring a student council meeting had to be. He would never understand how his sister could sit through one of them, let alone the weekly meetings they seemed to have. "Okay," he drew out the word even though he knew it made him sound a bit like a whiny brat. But sometimes his sister could sound too much like an overbearing mother hen. "I'll get a ride home then." Or he could simply ride his skateboard home. He always brought it with him, just in case, and Jazz having a student council meeting was a perfect excuse to utilize a bit of afterschool time to work on some skateboard tricks. If his friends didn't offer better afterschool options.

Danny watched his sister continue on down the hall, heading off to meet with her own friends or plan for the meeting with other student council members. With a shake of his head, he reached his locker, spinning the combination lock to open it to get at the books he needed.

"Your sister still bugging you about being responsible?" Sam lifted her eyebrows while she leaned against the lockers with her arms folded.

"Eh, she means well." Danny shrugged and stuffed his books into his bag. "As annoying as that can be." He grinned at his friends. "Well, sounds like I get the afternoon free. You two have plans?" He slung his bag over his shoulder as they walked down the hall, meandering around before the first bell rang.

"I got that robotics club thing today," Tucker said with a frown as he glanced toward Danny. "Sorry, man."

"Hey," Danny reached over and slapped a hand onto Tucker's shoulder, seeing a look in his green eyes that he feared his friend would be hurt because he was busy, "it's okay. You better invite me to that whole robot contest thing. I want to see it when you all finally get it finished."

Tucker joined up with the robotics club in their sophomore year, and he had talked about the robot they were building ever since. Danny liked seeing his friend so passionate about something, feeling eager to see all the hard work his friend did on the robot. The club was supposed to show off their robot in a contest at the end of the year against all the schools in the district, so now the club was working double time to make sure they could actually get it finished in time.

"Of course, man." With a bright grin, Tucker held up a fist, and Danny bumped it with a fist of his own.

"Boys," Sam muttered with a roll of her violet eyes. She reached up to tuck a lock of her ebony hair behind an ear, which, if Danny wasn't mistaken, had a new piercing.

"And what about you?" Danny threw an arm over her shoulders, putting on a charming smile. "Busy after school? We could hit up the Nasty Burger?"

"I wish." Sam groaned, and Danny could already guess what she had to say. "But my mom has 'plans.' And by that, I mean she wants me to attend one of her stupid rich people social benefits where I'm expected to dress up 'like a girl' and put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy and smile at everything everyone says and-"

"You've ranted on this about a million times already," Tucker said, cutting off her grumblings only because it seriously wasn't their first time hearing it. "Can't you," he shrugged, "get out of it somehow?"

Sam's face twisted up like she was getting ready to launch into another frustrated rant about her mother when a thought occurred to her. A wicked smirk curled onto her face as she pulled something out of her bag. "Maybe there is a way I can get out of it." She held up a wad of cash and fanned it out to show off how much money she had on her. "If someone was willing to take me place."

"Sweet money!" Tucker nearly drooled as he reached out to take the money from Sam. Then he snapped out of it and jerked back, folding his arms. "Wait. No. Not worth it to do _that_ again." That being freshmen year when Sam bribed him to dress like her so she could skip school one day when her favorite author was visiting the Skulk and Lurk bookstore for a book signing tour. Tucker, being the type of person who was always looking to make a buck, eagerly snatched up the opportunity to cash in when Sam offered him the money. "Last time, my parents wanted to enroll me into therapy when the principal called them to say I came to school dressed in drag."

Sam frowned, her purple painted lips pursing in displeasure of Tucker's firm rejection. Then she glanced Danny's way. "Think about what you could buy with some extra cash." She flaunted the money in his face with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, so not happening, Sam." Danny laughed, pushing the money back toward her. "I'm not being caught dead like that."

Sam growled in frustration as she stamped a combat booted foot against the floor. "Why couldn't I have been born into your family?" She stuffed her money back into her wallet then crammed it into her bag.

"You really want to be in my family?" Danny laughed. "With Jazz hounding you all the time?"

"I would take Jazz over my mother every day of the week," Sam said flatly, and Danny actually couldn't blame her. He had met her mother before, and the woman hated him on sight. Apparently from the way he dressed, he had to be a delinquent who would only be a bad influence on her daughter. His thoughts were interrupted when Sam sidled up to him with a coy smile upon her face. "You could come with me," Sam said encouragingly. "You know, for moral support. If I have to sit through this with," her gaze turned down the hall and narrowed harshly at a small grouping of A Listers, "her, I might actually launch myself across the table and stab her with a shrimp fork."

"Yeah, whoa there." Danny grabbed Sam's shoulders and turned her around to guide her the other way down the hall. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having a run in with Mr. Popularity himself, Dash Baxter, this early in the morning so the change in their wanderings was doubly beneficial. "Let's not go toward homicidal rampage." He sighed, glancing at Tucker for help, but his friend pointedly refused to look at him as he whistled innocently. "Do I have to dress up for it?"

"I have just the thing in your size." Sam grinned and patted him on the cheek as Danny groaned. Tucker snickered beside them until they both reached over and punched him in the arm.

"You totally had that planned out, didn't you?" Danny demanded as the first bell of the day rang through the halls.

"Who? Me?" Sam feigned innocence as she fluttered her eyes.

Danny gave her a nudge with his arm. "I'll see you later." He waved to his friends then headed off toward his first class of the day. As he walked into the classroom, he rubbed a hand over his face. Why did he let Sam talk him into going to one of those stupid social events for her mother? Not only was it going to be a major bore, but he would be forced to wear a ridiculous suit. He shuddered at the thought, hating suits and how awkward he felt wearing one. But it was Sam, and she would be a nightmare to be around if she went to it alone. Danny slid into his seat, leaning on the desk with another wide yawn. Maybe his sister had a point about not staying up late to play video games.

Before he could even get out his things for class, his chair was pulled out from under him. Danny made an attempt, a poor one, to keep from falling, but his legs got tangled up in the chair. He crashed to the floor with a thud and a clatter from the overturned chair.

"Hey, Fentripper," said an obnoxious nasally voice Danny knew all too well, "have a nice fall?" Laughter followed, the whole classroom exploding into peals of chuckles and giggles, and a blush bloomed across Danny's face as he struggled to right his chair and return to his seat.

"Yeah, real funny, Dash," Danny grumbled, shooting a glare at the blond jock. He was tempted to used the jock's given name, spoil the whole big bad Dash image with the nerdy name, but he held it back, settling for a seething scowl.

"That's enough chatter," their teacher said, his voice raising to reach over the noise of the classroom. His sharp brown eyes swept across the room before fixing upon Danny. "Is there a problem, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny's gaze darted toward Dash, who unfortunately sat beside him. The jock glared at him, his hand curling into a tight fist with a promise of pain if he spoke. "No, Sir," Danny answered quickly.

"Good. Then take your seat. I'd like to begin class now." Their teacher turned around to face the board and began writing notes for their day's lesson.

Danny dropped back onto his chair, once he had it righted, and shot a glare at Dash. The jock smirked smugly as he twisted a pen between his fingers, and Danny didn't miss the still healing cuts upon his knuckles. Danny was happy those scars weren't caused by Dash's fist meeting any part of his body. The feeling didn't last long, his body slouching somewhat as he realized it simply meant some other poor student was the target of Dash's rage instead.

Danny would never go so far as to say he and Dash were ever friends. They had gone to school together ever since preschool, but even before that, their mothers brought them to the same park when they were kids. His memories didn't quite reach far back enough to remember all that, but from what his mother had said, they at least seemed to get along, the way children did at any rate. Then sometime around sixth grade, Dash changed, and for whatever reason, Danny found himself being on the receiving end of the jock's fists. Even with how big their high school was, Danny couldn't avoid running into Dash, especially since they shared classes.

Their first class dragged on as the teacher talked in an overly monotonous tone, which had Danny struggling not to drift off to sleep. Dash occasionally chucking spit balls at him, though, helped to distracted his mind from slipping off to the realm of dreams. Danny swatted at a ball which landed in his hair and glared venomously at the jock, who grinned too widely and showed off perfect pearly white teeth. Sometimes, it made him want to groan. Perfect Dash Baxter. Mr. Popularity with his stupid slicked back blond hair and blue eyes like he was a model out of some magazine selling sporty clothing. He pretty much had it all, except he also had a terrible personality.

As class wound down to an end, Dash leaned across the aisle, balancing with one arm on Danny's desk. "Hey, is your sister free this weekend?" His lip curled in a grin, and his fingers flexed as if to say if Danny messed things up for him, he would regret it.

It was just another reason Dash got on Danny's nerves: the jock's constant hitting on his sister. "Even if she was, I doubt she would ever agree to do anything with you," Danny grumbled, trying to keep his focus on taking down notes. It was the wrong thing to say, and Danny knew it the moment he let the words spill from his lips. He winced as the fist slammed into his shoulder, predictably in the same spot Dash almost always managed to hit. It was by some miracle his upper arm didn't sport a constant bruise from the abuse it took.

"Watch it, Fenjoker!" Dash threatened with a finger pointed at Danny's face, practically stabbing at the other man's eye. "Unless you want a beating after school."

"Is there a problem, Mr. Baxter?" their teacher asked, appearing right before them in the aisle between their desks. His brown eyes glared coldly down his nose, and though he only addressed Dash, Danny knew the man was angry with him too.

"Of course not, Mr. Green," Dash said, wearing his charming grin which usually won over all the teachers, and Danny rolled his eyes with a frustrated gritting of his teeth. Dash could talk his way out of any punishment the teachers might give him.

"I should hope not," Mr. Green said, narrowing his eyes. Then he slapped a paper down on Dash's desk before doing the same to Danny's desk. "Be sure to have these permission slips signed by tomorrow or you won't be able to come on the field trip." Then he continued down the aisle to pass the rest of the permission slips out to the other students.

A smile spread onto Danny's face as he read over the form. Field trips were always a good excuse to get out of a day of classes, but even better, the place they were going to visit was exactly his kind of place. Danny stuffed the permission slip into his bag, eagerly looking forward to the trip on Friday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

Danny rocked on his feet, giving his teacher a hopeful look as the man read over the permission slip. Last class, final teacher. Once the man signed it and marked down his excused absence on Friday, Danny only needed to have his parents sign the permission slip and he was home free to going on the field trip. He tried to school his expression, keep the excitement from his eyes as his teacher's mouth pursed in consideration.

"I do hope you'll have your homework finished before you go." The man bent down and signed his name on the final period line.

"Oh, of course, Mr. Lancer!" Danny said eagerly, bobbing his head.

Lancer's green eyes narrowed slightly when he lifted his gaze to his student. "I expect good work. I don't want to see you slack off in your rush to get the work done just for the sake of a field trip." He handed the permission slip back to Danny.

"I know, I know." Danny huffed as he folded up the permission slip and tucked it safely into his bag. His excitement over the field trip nearly faded when he remembered how tough a teacher Lancer could be. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt, he frowned and turned his gaze away. "Do all you teachers hang out in the lounge and discuss the impossible amounts of homework you push on students nightly?" he grumbled, thinking about the mountain of homework he would need to do after the whole little benefit he was being forced to attend thanks to Sam.

One eyebrow arched before an amused smile graced Lancer's face. "Is that what students believe?" He wiped a hand over his balding head with a light chuckle he normally wouldn't use during school hours. "I assure you, Danny," Lancer placed his hands on his hips, his potbelly hanging over his belt, "we don't scheme to bury our students under mounds of homework." His mouth curved downward, and he reached up, stroking a hand over his bearded chin. "But if you ever feel like you're falling too far behind in your classes, my door is always open."

Danny nodded. It was one of the things he liked a lot about Lancer. The man could be strict and have high standards for his students, but he cared when it came to helping those struggling to keep up with their classes. "I'll be fine. Though," his mouth quirked a little, "if you can get me out of going to this thing with Sam, I'd really appreciate it."

Lancer laid a hand upon his shoulder. "One must always fulfill one's promises, Danny."

With a groan, Danny turned toward the door of the classroom, not wanting to hear another lecture about responsibilities. He already heard enough about it from his sister. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Lancer." He waved to his teacher then left the classroom and headed down the hall toward his locker.

His mouth pressed thin as he thought about all the homework he had for the night. Too many math problems, already giving him a headache. A report for history and an essay on the book for his English class. What else was he forgetting?

"Go long!"

Danny turned at the shout, and in the next instant, a large body slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. He grunted under the weight, wheezing from the pressure crushing his ribs. The football hit just beyond his head and rolled a few inches away. He rolled his eyes. Jocks. They always did stupid stuff like this in the halls, despite being told not to a million times by their teachers. The body climbed off him, which Danny was thankful for as he took a full breath again.

"Sorry about that."

A hand hovered before his face, and when he looked up, some relief rolled over Danny as he met with Kwan's apologetic face. If he was going to be tackled by a jock, Kwan would at least apologize for it and not act too much like a major jerk. Danny placed his hand in the one held out to him, and Kwan hauled him up to his feet and helped steady him.

"Didn't hurt you, did I?" Kwan's brow creased with worry, and Danny sometimes couldn't get over how nice the man was considering his best friend was probably the biggest bully in the school.

"No," Danny answered, though his ribs felt a bit bruised.

"Nice going, Fenblock." Dash sneered as he banged his shoulder into Danny. He bent over to pick up the dropped football. "Maybe we should replace the tackle dummies with you. Since you're so good at blocking us." He jabbed the football into Danny's chest, and the corner of his lip curled, his dark blue eyes taunting in their glare as if Dash was waiting on Danny to say something and give him the excuse to punch him.

"Lay off, Dash." Kwan nudged at his friend, almost wedging his way between the other two men. "It was my fault for not looking in the first place."

"So sorry I got in the way," Danny said, resisting the strong urge to roll his eyes at the blond jock. "I'll just leave now so it doesn't happen again." Before Danny could take a step, Dash grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into the lockers. Maybe saying nothing would have been the smarter option, but his brain had this tendency to shut off and act stupid when it came to dealing with Dash. Kwan placed a hand on his friend's arm, and his mouth opened, but-

"Dash!"

Danny cringed at the familiar voice, a wash of embarrassment heating his cheeks as his gaze slid sideways and he caught sight of his sister storming over to them. Her face pinched with rage, and her aqua colored eyes narrowing dangerously. She placed herself firmly between her brother and the jock then shoved Dash back a step. Kwan wisely put some space between him and them, knowing better than to draw Jazz's anger onto him.

"You," Jazz pointed a finger right between Dash's eyes, "need to stop this." Danny could only see the back of his sister's auburn head, but he knew all too well the angry expression on her face, and judging from the way Dash gulped, Danny was certain he was thinking of the right one. "I've told you a thousand times now to stop messing with my brother. I am _not_ going to sit here and let you hurt him."

"We were just playing around," Dash said, trying to shrug it off like it was all some game.

"Don't even," Jazz growled darkly, and Danny didn't miss the shudder running through the jock. "I'm not stupid. I know exactly what was happening. Leave my brother alone."

"Tch! Whatever." Dash grabbed hold of Kwan's arm and pulled his friend with him down the hall.

"Jazz, seriously!" Danny groaned in exasperation. Didn't his sister get sticking up for him like that only made Dash pick on him even more?

His sister spun around and pinned him with the same heated glare she had used on Dash. "Don't give me that, Danny!" She folded her arms, her mouth pressing into a thin line. "Dash is a bully, and I'm not going to stand for it." Her teeth gritted, and her hands squeezed tightly around her biceps. "He could really be something, but he's just going to end up going down a bad road if he keeps acting out like this."

Danny lifted an eyebrow. "And you're going to be the one to change the way he acts?"

Jazz snapped her gaze back to him, and Danny flinched. "Someone has to believe in him. If no one tries, he has no reason to believe in himself." She took a deep breath, calming her anger. "Anyway, I'm going to be late for that student council meeting if I don't get going now." She stood up straighter, the way she always did when she was trying to act like a responsible adult talking to an irresponsible child. "Try not to stay out too late if you decide to go anywhere. Call Mom and Dad if you _are_ going to be late. And don't forget about your homework."

"You really don't need to give this same speech every time, Jazz." Danny shook his head. "I'm not five anymore."

Jazz stared skeptically as one eyebrow inched upward. "Maybe you're not, but you still have a habit of hanging out with your friends until after dark then playing video games the rest of the night."

"Not always," Danny muttered, glancing away. "You should get going. Don't want to be late or anything."

"Oh, right! See you at home!" Jazz tossed him a quick wave before she hurried off down the hall.

Danny rolled his eyes as he headed to his locker again. Still halfway down the hall, he sighed when he spotted Sam leaning against the lockers waiting for him with her arms folded and her foot tapping impatiently. He didn't want to go to this thing any more than Sam did, but he _had_ promised and Lancer was right about keeping his promise. If he was lucky, Sam would have some quick exit plan so they could escape after only a short amount of time. Reluctantly, he made his way over to her then twisted the lock to open his locker.

"So we can stop by my place and get dressed," Sam said, her voice dry as she seethed over having to attend the benefit. "Then off to whatever dumb benefit my mom has planned this time."

"You don't even know what it is?" Danny stuffed his books into his bag as he shot his friend a quizzical look. After he slung his bag over his shoulder, he slammed his locker shut and gave the lock a quick spin.

Sam's shoulders hunched up as she pushed away from the lockers. "Once she gets talking, I tend to tune her out. She can be," she rolled her eyes, and Danny stepped aside to avoid being punched if his friend decided to lash out, "rather long winded."

Danny sighed tiredly but followed after Sam. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"

"Don't they always?"

"From the way you describe them, yeah." Danny shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked down the hall toward the back exit of the school which led out to parking lot. "I'm going to look really stupid in whatever I have to wear, aren't I?"

Sam turned her head slightly toward him as her eyebrow quirked up a touch. "You're an idiot sometimes." She shook her head as they left the school and walked toward her car.

"Huh?" Danny blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just get in the car." Sam pulled open the door and slid onto the driver's seat without another word.

Danny scratched at the back of his head, frowning at his friend's comment. But he climbed into the passenger's seat, stowing his bag on the floor. When Sam turned the key and brought the engine to life, Danny cringed at the blast of music coming from the radio. Heavy metal, of course, and he bet it drove Sam's parents crazy whenever she played it in the house. The drive took less than half an hour, and Sam parked her car right outside the front door. Danny eyed the house - more like a mansion - warily with the feeling of being a poor beggar looking for donations from a royal family. In general, he tried to avoid Sam's house and her parents as he preferred not having people sneer down their noses at him.

"Stop being a baby." Sam nudged him forward toward the front door. "My parents aren't even home right now. Dad's still at work, and Mom's already at this stupid event."

"Yeah, well," Danny grumbled as the door opened for them. "That still leaves all your servants." He cringed back at the glare of the stuffy looking butler who opened the door.

"Don't mind Harold. He gives all our guests that look." Sam waved to the middle aged man before leading Danny upstairs to her bedroom.

"Really, Sam? All of them? Or just me and Tucker?"

Sam frowned, turning back to him as she stood in the doorway to her room. "Okay, mostly just you and Tucker. But my parents are always having their stupid snobby friends over for dinner parties. I'd rather be at your house hanging out most nights. Even if I do have a bowling alley and movie theater in the basement," she muttered the last part.

"I wouldn't mind having them in my basement." Danny grinned as he followed his friend into her bedroom.

"What _is_ in your basement anyway?" Sam stared with great interest shining in her violet eyes. When Danny shrugged innocently, Sam's mouth tugged downward as her eyes narrowed with a touch in disbelief. "Anyway," she brushed past the topic as she strolled over to her closet, "here's your suit." She pulled the hanger from the hook on the back of her closet door. "You can change in the bathroom down the hall."

"Ugh," Danny groaned with a shudder as he stared at the suit presented to him. "You're lucky I'm such a good friend. And no more tricking me into things like this."

"Oh yes. You're just the sweetest." Sam patted his cheek then pushed him toward the door of her room. "Now hurry up. The sooner we get there, the sooner I hope we can get out of it."

"Ah, so you _do_ have plan." Danny smirked as Sam rolled her eyes. Taking the suit, he headed down the hall from her bedroom to the bathroom, which made his own bedroom feel like a closet with how big it was. He could probably swim laps in the bathtub if he wanted. With a shake of his head, he stripped out of his clothes and changed into the suit consisting of dark ashy gray slacks and a white dress shirt.

Danny stared at his reflection in the mirror as he did the matching gray tie. He struggled with it for a moment, growling as he tried to recall his father showing him how to properly knot a tie. After a few attempts, he succeeded, his mouth curving into a proud smile. It was a perfect fit, he noted as he made sure everything was straight and proper in the mirror. Sam really had this all planned out, and it irritated him to know Sam knew he would agree to this. Danny gathered up his clothes and stuffed them into his bag before he stepped out of the bathroom. He almost jumped when he found Sam already waiting for him, leaning against the wall.

"Had some trouble?" Sam smirked. "I thought girls were supposed to be the ones to take forever getting ready."

"Ha, ha." Danny rolled his eyes before looking over what Sam wore. His eyebrows lifted in surprise when he saw she wore a suit like him instead of some fancy dress. But the black dress slacks and dark purple-black dress shirt fit her quite well.

"My mom said I had to dress up," Sam explained as she led the way back downstairs. "She didn't specify that I had to wear a dress."

"Loopholes. Nice." Danny chuckled. "See ya later, Harold." He held up his hand for a high five as he passed the butler on their way out of the house. Harold merely glared at him then turned his head away with a sharp sniff. "Always great seeing you." Danny jogged down the walkway to catch up with Sam as they returned to her car.

"One of these days, I think he might actually try to kill you." Sam gave him a flat stare as if trying to silently tell him to stop messing with the staff in her house.

Danny shrugged, half grinning. "Whatever. Let's get this thing over with."

Sam snorted a laugh as the engine roared to life and the music on the radio pounded loud enough to rattle Danny's eardrums.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I probably should have mentioned that this is an AU. So things aren't going to be like in canon. orz ;;

**panfan87**: I am! XD I was working on this a bit since last month, and I was going to get the first chapter posted sooner, but I got stuck on what to call this thing! orz

**DB-KT**: Funny you should say that... XD;;; Gah! I've been forgetting about the chat. orz

**Tetractys**: 8) You'll have to wait and see~

**kirahphantom**: That shall be revealed in, uh, a couple of chapters. XD

**The freedom girl**: I've been saying I would write a Dan/Danny story eventually. XD;;; Just ideas hadn't really come together until now. Well, this is an AU so it doesn't keep up with canon. And I played with the ages a bit. Danny's 17 and a junior while Jazz is 18 and a senior. If I had left Jazz at the 2 year gap, she would have been off to college already, and it's very important that she's present in the story. And I can't write romance with Danny being only 14. I think I was considering this being set in March? So Jazz is close to graduating. Dan will be... something. XD;;; His story doesn't follow canon though.

**midnight**: Poor Danny. Get roped into things by Sam. Like always. XD I'm not dead! I promise! I was just working things out with this story. XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 03**

Danny eyed the building before him as Sam led the way up to the open double doors at the top of the white marble stairs. Sam grabbed his hand when Danny lagged behind, dragging him through the doorway and into the grand entrance hall. The white of the inside nearly blinded Danny, and he wanted to shy away from the stark, spotless world of the wealthy, but Sam refused to release his hand from her death grip. They crossed the entrance hall, and the stares following Danny didn't surprise him. He probably gave off some sort of middle class aura the wealthy could pick up on with a single look.

"Samantha!" Standing in the doorway to room where the benefit was being held, Mrs. Manson placed her hands on her hips, and a smoldering glare upon her pinched face of displeasure. Put next to each other, the difference in mother and daughter stood out sharply. Mrs. Manson's auburn hair was perfectly styled with not a single hair out of place and a slight curl at the ends brushing over her shoulders. Where Sam dressed in black and other dark colors, her mother wore bright pink, and expensive looking, dresses.

"Sam," she corrected with a pursing of her purple lips. If Danny had learned anything about his friend, it was that she hated being called Samantha.

Mrs. Manson bristled at the correction, her expression twisting as if she sucked on something particularly sour. "What happened to the dress I laid out for you?"

"I dressed appropriately," Sam argued, unaffected by her mother, unlike Danny, who currently wanted to blend into the shadows and disappear to avoid an awkward situation.

"You know full well that you were supposed to wear a dress to this."

"Too late now." Sam shrugged off her mother's rage. "It would take me _forever_ to drive back home and change, and by then there would hardly be any point in coming back because I would have missed everything."

Mrs. Manson's expression soured, if possible, even further then snapped her attention onto Danny. "And what is _he_ doing here?" Her tone actually made him flinch because it sounded like she was referring to him as a piece of trash being brought in to dirty up their perfectly clean home.

"I invited him," Sam answered with great finality in her voice. "And now we're holding up the line so we should just go inside already." She hooked her arm around one of Danny's arms then dragged him through the doorway past her mother without another word or a second glance.

Danny did glance back, however, and caught sight of Mrs. Manson gasping like a fish out of water in response to her daughter's rudeness. "Your mom is so never letting me near your house again."

"Like she hasn't threatened that before." Sam rolled her eyes.

"You do know that your mom just wants the best for you, right?"

Sam glared as if he had betrayed her, and Danny cringed away but her hold on his arm prevented him from escaping. "She might think she knows what's best for me, but I'm almost an adult. I should be able to make my own decisions about my life. If I just follow everything she wants me to do, then I'm nothing but a mindless lemming doing what I'm told. I don't want to be some stay at home wife of some rich guy."

"The money would be nice though," Danny said wistfully. His parents made enough money to live on, but they still ranked within middle class. They also refused to hand him money for nothing, requiring him to do chores for an allowance and suggesting he get a job if he wished for more spending money.

"Money isn't everything, Danny." Sam flicked him on the forehead, and he flinched. "I plan on _doing_ something with my life. Something important. Which means not bowing down to my mom's wishes to become some silly housewife. Ugh," she groaned as something caught her attention.

Danny followed her gaze to a group of four women. Paulina stood out among them, wearing a delicate pink dress and her ebony hair draped over one bare shoulder with pink and white flowers decorating it. She still managed to take Danny's breath away, though a hard elbow to the ribs woke him out of his daze. He couldn't help it though. Sometimes when he looked at Paulina, he simply fell back to being fourteen and madly crushing upon the beautiful Hispanic woman.

Standing with Paulina, Star held a hand to her mouth, giggling over something said among their group. Her blonde hair was swept up in a twist and pinned in place with an orange flower. Valerie, on the other side, rolled green eyes with an appearance of boredom. Her soft powdery yellow dress looked stunning on her, and Danny thought _maybe_ he saw a hint of annoyance in Paulina's emerald eyes. Didn't like being outshined, did she? The other woman was one Danny only recognized in passing but couldn't put a name to her bronzy face.

"And I think it's time we head in this direction," Danny said, guiding Sam toward the opposite side of the room. "Look. Drinks. I'm thirsty."

"See?" Sam sighed with perhaps a touch of relief. "This is exactly why I needed you here with me. If I was alone, I'd be too tempted to start something with Paulina."

"Well, at least, it looks like they serve some decent snacks." Danny picked up a bite sized treat from one of the platters on the table by the drinks. He popped it in his mouth then caught the wicked smirk on his friend's face.

"That was snail," Sam said, and Danny spat out the treat without a second thought. It made a splat as it hit the floor, Sam laughing the whole time.

"Ha, ha," Danny grumbled, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth clean. "I know I'm hilarious." _Ugh, rich people food_, he groaned internally as he crouched down and cleaned up the mess he made on the floor. No reason to leave it and risk someone slipping on it. He could hear Jazz's chiding voice in his head, spurring him to think of the potential danger of leaving food on the floor, besides that it was kind of disgusting. When he stood up again, Danny blinked as a pasty skinned redheaded man darted between him and Sam and picked up one of the same treats Danny had just spat out.

"Crab puffs! Yes!" The man popped it into his mouth then seemed to take notice of the people on either side of him. He gave an awkward smile with a mouthful of crab puff then slowly inched away from them. Meanwhile, Danny glared at his friend.

"Sorry," Sam said, biting her lip to hold back a snicker. "I couldn't resist. Your face was priceless."

"Oh, I see." Danny nodded, his blue eyes rolling slightly. "You brought me here as the entertainment."

Sam opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off with an irritating,

"Sammikins!" Mrs. Manson approached them with the heels of her white shoes clacking on the polished flooring. She wore a false smile and pointedly ignored Danny as she placed herself between him and her daughter with her back to him. "Gregor just arrived," she announced in a singsong sort of way, voice filled with excitement. "Ah," she sighed, "if only you had worn that dress I picked out."

"It was ugly," Sam said flatly, narrowing her eyes unhappily.

"It was five hundred dollars and one of a kind," Mrs. Manson snapped. "No matter." She recovered, straightening out her dress. "Come. Come. He's been waiting to meet you for months."

"Mom, I'm not interested," Sam growled as her mother dragged her away to meet the mysterious Gregor.

Danny hesitated, knowing he should probably do something to help his friend. But Mrs. Manson already hated him, and Danny felt great certainty she would hurt him or worse for standing in her way. He could see from where Sam got her scary side. Mrs. Manson shooting a glare at him over her shoulder as she led her daughter away didn't encourage him to try rescuing Sam from meeting with some guy Danny doubted she would have even the tiniest bit of interest in. With a nervous gulp, he snapped his gaze away and feigned great interest in the crab puffs.

Snail. Danny shook his head as he picked one up to eat. But now without Sam, he basically had no one to talk to, and sweeping his gaze around the room, Danny felt even more out of place. After some time of standing there uselessly, he turned, deciding to seek out a trash can to throw away the napkin with the crab puff he spat out earlier, and bumped into a body he hadn't noticed was there. He winced at the gasp the woman released.

"Sorry," he said. Then Danny paled when she twisted around to pin him with a glare. Valerie's face scrunched up in anger as her drink soaked through the front of her dress.

"You," Valerie growled as she fisted a hold of the front of his shirt then jerked him forward a step. "You did that on purpose."

"No, no!" Danny argued, raising his hands before him. "It was an accident. I didn't see you!" He reached to grab some napkins to help dry off some of the moisture, but Valerie gave him a shove away from her hard enough to make him stumble and fall to the floor.

"You're lucky Dash and Kwan aren't here." Valerie pointed a finger at him, her green eyes cold, hard, and narrowed. "Now I have to go clean this up before the others see. I do _not_ need to be laughed at for the next month because of this." She kicked him in the shin with the pointy toe of her high heels then stomped off to take care of cleaning up her dress.

_Gotta remember to thank Sam for dragging me to this_. Danny sighed as he climbed to his feet. A trash can stood in one corner of the room, and Danny tossed the napkin into it. He glanced around the room, spotting Sam on the other side. Her mouth pursed tightly, and Danny could imagine she was resisting the urge to deck the man in front of her. The man had this wild white hair sticking straight up, and he wore shades like he was some sort of celebrity. Danny snorted to himself, wondering what kind of idiot wore sunglasses inside. Whatever the man, Gregor Danny guessed, was saying, Sam didn't look pleased in the slightest, but her mother stuck by her side, making it impossible for Sam to ditch Gregor.

Danny wandered around the room, awkwardly trying to avoid people. At one point, he almost ran into Paulina but caught himself, spinning around on his feet to walk back the way he came. Before he got too far away, though, he heard part of the conversation.

"It's bad enough _she_ has to come," Paulina said with a sneer in her voice, "but then she brings her loser friend too."

If he ever thought he had a chance with Paulina, that would have been a kick to the groin. Danny sighed, shaking his head. Since freshman year, he had tried to get in with the A List, wanting a chance at popularity, but every attempt had gone poorly. And usually ended with him being completely humiliated.

Danny paused when something caught his attention. As he passed by one of the tables set off to the sides of the room, he noticed a tablet sitting upon the white linen. The tablet, itself, wasn't anything unusual, but what he saw on the screen made him back up for a second look. The corner of his mouth twitched as he pulled out the chair to sit down, glad to get off his feet for a time. He stared at the tablet before a soft chuckle escaped him, and he fiddled with what was on the screen.

"Hey!"

Danny jumped, banging his knee on the table. "Ow," he groaned, rubbing at his sore knee as he turned to look up at the person who shouted at him. He blinked up into the bright blue eyes glaring down at him. The woman had to be at least a year, but no more than two, younger than he, but her black dress with the white sash around her narrow waist gave her a more mature appearance. Her raven hair was simply done, tied back in a low ponytail with her bangs swept to one side.

"What do you think you're doing?" She ripped the tablet away from him.

"Oh, I was just, um-" Danny fumbled for an answer. He knew he shouldn't be messing with something belonging to someone else, but he couldn't help himself when he saw what was on the tablet.

"I set it down for two seconds, and-" She blinked as she took in the screen. Then she plopped down in the seat next to him. "How did you do that? I've been staring at that problem for the last half hour trying to solve it."

Danny shrugged as he leaned on the table. "Guess it just comes naturally." Then his eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Wait. Have you been working on that the whole time you were here? Aren't you supposed to be paying attention to, uh, whatever this is?" He gestured toward the room and all the wealthy people gathered in it.

Blue eyes drifted briefly around the room before settling back on him. "What? You mean another pointless fundraiser promoting the whole 'going green' concept so the wealthy can feel good about themselves, like they're actually contributing to the solution of fixing the world's pollution problem?" She snorted. "Please. The money isn't going towards that. They just say that to look good then feed the money into other projects."

"You sound like my friend Sam." Danny laughed with a small shake of his head. "She's all about doing stuff to help the environment. This event must have her wanting to get up on a soapbox and start yelling at everyone about actually _doing_ something instead of throwing money at a giant corporation that isn't going to help the environment at all."

"Your friend sounds like my kind of person." She smiled, but it slowly faded back into a frown. "So you're good at this kind of stuff?" She turned the tablet around to him, and the screen still showed the problem he had solved.

"I've been known to dabble a little here and there." Danny shrugged, trying to go for cool and nonchalant with his response. Though if the woman wanted to be impressed by someone's knowledge, Danny's sister was the genius between them. He frowned slightly, feeling Jazz's shadow creeping over him again. He could admit it. He was jealous. Jazz had brains, and she was fairly popular. Meanwhile, Danny sat in the losers' corner of the school, and his grades weren't nearly as good as his sister's.

"Maybe," she said thoughtfully as she stared at the tablet, "you could give me some help. My dad expects me to attend these stupid functions _and_ maintain a 4.0 GPA." She rolled her eyes as she placed the tablet down on the table and flipped it off to conserve power. "But doing both is killer, and I'm barely keeping up with everything. But if you could, I don't know, tutor me, maybe I could get my grades up, and my dad would stop giving me the stink eye when he sees my grades."

"I don't know," Danny said hesitantly, a frown settling upon his face. "You could find someone a lot smarter to be your tutor."

She lifted her eyebrow in a look of "You have to be kidding me" before she shook her head. "If you can sit here for two seconds and solve a problem I spent half an hour on, you'll do fine."

Danny sighed at the hopeful look in her eyes. "All right. I guess we can give it a try."

"Great!" She rummaged through her black handbag to pull out her cell phone. "Just program in your number, and we can discuss payment."

"Payment?" Danny's eyes lit up as he took the phone. "You should have led with that." He quirked a smirk as he added his number to her contact list.

"Probably should have led with our names too." She stuck out her hand toward him. "Elle."

"Danny." He shook her hand then offered her phone back to her.

* * *

**The freedom girl**: Aw~ But aren't surprises supposed to be fun? Danny's always there for his friends. XD Sam counts on that fact. Jazz is always looking out for her baby brother. Even he acts like a brat about it. XD Aw thanks~ I wish I had had a teacher like Lancer!

**Zuvios Gemini**: Thanks! =D

**midnight**: Ugh school assignments. I'd like to forget about them. So true. XD Kwan's more of the "oh gosh! Did I hurt you? Here. Let me help you up." kind of guy. XD Dash is just a grumpy butt. That's probably how Harold gets a good night's rest. He dreams about various ways to kill Danny. It's always the butler in the murder mysteries, right? XD;;;

**Tetractys**: You'll just have to wait and see! 8) *looks at chapter number* Uh. Well, it might still be a few chapters. *whistles innocently* Well, Danny's luck is probably a little better since there are no ghosts around to pester him. XD

**kirahphantom**: Leave it to Sam to find some way around what her mother wants. XD If there's a way to piss off her mother, Sam will find it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04**

"We can finally get out of here," Sam said, catching Danny as he was tossing away another napkin from a snack he ate earlier. Danny had sat around talking with Elle for a while, having no one else to hang out with while Sam was busy, but Elle disappeared a few minutes ago, stating she had something to do. Sam took hold of Danny's arm, not giving him a chance to speak as she dragged him along to the exit of the grand room before her mother could hunt her down again. "If I have to stay here another second, I might actually explode."

"What?" Danny gasped in mock surprise. "You didn't enjoy talking to Gregor?"

Sam's elbow struck him hard in the ribs as they passed through the open doors. "Don't even get me started on him." She shuddered, face twisting up in disgust. "That had to be the _worst_ Hungarian accent I have ever heard. And who wears sunglasses inside? Unless of course he was trying to hide blood shot eyes or something." She muttered the last part as waves of irritation rolled off her.

Danny's mouth quirked somewhat in an amused grin, but he quickly tried to hide it. "I would have come to save you, but I kind of like my head attached to my body. I'm pretty sure if I had tried to step in, your mom would have ripped my head clean off my shoulders."

"I'd argue," Sam eyed him as her mouth thinned, "but you probably have a point there. She really doesn't like you." They exited the building, and Sam led the way back to her car. She glanced his way a few times as they neared the car before speaking up again. "So who was that girl you were talking to?"

Danny stumbled but luckily caught his balance before he could look any more the fool. "Uh, she said her name was Elle," he answered as he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. "I, uh, somehow became her tutor."

"You?" Sam asked incredulously as her eyebrows shot upward.

"Hey!" Danny protested with annoyance flashing in his blue eyes. "I can be smart."

"I wasn't denying it." Sam unlocked the car doors for them. "I'm just surprised. Your sister, I can see her being a tutor. But you-" She laughed, looking away when Danny glared at her. "It's not about you not being smart. It's more, you know," she shrugged, "that you're a slacker. You're more interested in staying up all night playing video games."

"Yeah, but I also like having money," Danny pointed out, grinning as he climbed into the passenger's seat of the car. "We haven't worked out the rate yet, but we'll probably talk about that during the first tutoring session. She seems nice enough anyway. We got along pretty well just talking before she had to go."

"Yeah, I noticed." Sam rolled her violet eyes as she turned the key in the ignition. "The two of you looked pretty cozy sitting there. I guess it's good that at least one of us enjoyed ourselves."

Danny shrugged. "She seems like a good girl." Then he grinned and reached over to give Sam a little nudge. "I guess you didn't really need me around to keep you from tearing out Paulina's hair." Thinking about the A List, though, reminded Danny about the little mishap with Valerie. He cringed, thinking about the hell Valerie was bound to make his life at school.

Sam scowled, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. "Yeah, because being dragged around by my mom was a great alternative. I really wish she would wake up and realize I'm not interested in dating the guys she tries to throw me at."

Danny lost count of the number of times over the years Sam complained about her parents. Since not long after they started high school, Sam had something new to add to her long list of reasons her parents got on her nerves and would never understand her: her parents wanted her to marry a suitor from a wealthy family. Danny snorted to himself. Did they think this was back in the old days where arranged marriages were a common thing? He could understand Sam's frustration over that topic. He wouldn't want to be forced into a relationship either.

"I can't believe my mom is still holding these scam events." Sam banged a fist on the steering wheel, glowering at the road before her. "Promoting the whole 'go green' concept, that she doesn't even believe in by the way, when the money-"

"Is going to be put into other projects," Danny finished and received an angry scowl in response. "You've said things like that a million times over, Sam."

After huffing out a sigh, Sam tried to relax, but she clearly still had tension in her shoulders. "I just want to be able to do something to _really_ help the environment, but people like my parents and the people they invite to these things don't actually care. They just want a good public image."

Danny grinned, holding back a laugh, as they pulled up in front of his house. "You and Elle would get along great. She had the same thoughts about the event." He opened the door and grabbed his bag from where he had left it on the floor of the car. "I'll get the suit back to you tomorrow."

"Keep it," Sam said with a smirk. "It's tailored made for you anyway."

Of course it was. Danny wasn't sure if he should be creeped out by that fact or not. "I'll see you tomorrow." He closed the door once he climbed out of the car then waved to Sam. After she returned the wave, Sam drove off, heading toward her house. Danny slung his bag over his shoulder as he headed up to the front door. When he entered the house, the smell of dinner cooking hit him. He had eaten here and there on the snacks served at the fund raiser event, but they were hardly filling. After he dumped his bag on the couch in the front room, he headed into the kitchen.

"Dinner smells great, Mom." Danny reached to steal a taste of the mashed potatoes, but his mother slapped his hand away with a spatula.

"Go set the dinner table," his mother ordered with a stern frown. "Where have you been? And why are you dressed up so nicely? A date?" Her curious violet gaze followed him as he walked over to the cupboard to get down some plates.

"No," Danny answered, feeling a light heat rising to his cheeks. He always thought it was embarrassing whenever either of his parents asked if he was dating anyone. For a while during his freshmen year, his family was convinced he was dating Sam, and he was subjected to a lot of teasing comments and knowing looks before they realized he and Sam were simply friends. "It was just a benefit type thing, and Sam didn't want to go alone, so she dragged me along."

"Well, that was nice of you." His mother turned to him with her hands on her hips. She wore a white apron over her usual teal jumpsuit. "But what about your homework?"

"I'll get it done." Danny's head snapped up as he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I have something I need you to sign for tomorrow."

"What did you do?" His mother's mouth thinned unhappily.

"Nothing!" Danny finished setting the table. Then he went to grab his bag from the couch and dug through it to find the permission slip. "I just need you to sign this," he explained as he returned to the kitchen, walking over to where his mother was checking on the chicken cooking in the oven, "so I can go on the field trip with the rest of the class."

His mother stood up then took the slip of paper from him. She glanced it over, pursing her lips the whole time. "Hm, I suppose it would be all right." She snapped her gaze up to him just as Danny was about to cheer in celebration. "So long as you get all your homework done on time."

"That's exactly what Lancer said." Danny struggled not to groan after hearing the same repeated comment.

His mother found a pen and signed her name on the line for the parental or guardian signature. When she finished, she handed the permission slip back to him. "We just don't want you to slack off." She pinched his cheek hard. "Especially when I know you can be a bright boy when you apply yourself."

"Ugh, Mom!" Danny rubbed at his cheek, frowning at his mother.

"Go tell your sister that dinner's almost ready." His mother crossed the kitchen to the door leading down into the basement, and Danny knew she was going to tell his father dinner was just about ready, pulling him away from whatever his latest project was.

Danny left the kitchen and grabbed his bag. As he headed upstairs, he tucked the permission slip into his bag, making sure it was in spot where he wouldn't lose it. Then he charged up the stairs and down the hall toward his sister's bedroom. He barely made it halfway down the hall when he received a nasty surprise, making him halt mid step.

Dash exited Jazz's bedroom, and when he lifted his head, he spotted Danny. A cruel smirk crossed his face. "What are you doing here, loser?" The jock approached him, cracking the knuckles of one fist.

"I live here," Danny replied dryly. "What exactly were you doing in my sister's room?"

"Well," Dash smirked more, leaning one elbow against the wall as he examined the nails on one hand, "I know _you_ don't know a whole lot about the ladies, but they love me. Your sister can't keep her hands off me. It's a gift."

Danny tried not to vomit at the imagery _that_ put in his head. But he snorted instead. "Yeah right, Dash. My sister would never be interested in you. She doesn't go for the whole Neanderthal thing."

Dash grabbed hold of Danny's tie and yanked him forward, right up close to Dash's face. "What did you call me?" he demanded in a low, threatening tone, and his breath stank of those gross chalky breath mints. Danny wrinkled his nose and tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the nauseous smell.

"Hey!" Jazz shouted, storming over to them. "I swear, Dash, if you want to graduate from high school, you will _stop_ bullying my brother." Her aqua colored eyes glared without wavering as she stood next to them with her arms folded over the loose long sleeved black top she wore. "Let him go."

Dash ground his teeth, his jaw tightening visibly, but after a moment, he released his hold on the tie. Danny backed up a step, happy for the clean air as he smoothed down the wrinkled tie.

"I'll meet you tomorrow for another study session," Jazz said as she thrust a bag into Dash's chest. "If I catch you harassing my brother again, this deal is off."

Dash grumbled under his breath as he threw the strap of his bag over one shoulder. When he caught Jazz glaring at him, he snapped his mouth shut and looked away. Minutes passed in silence, but he eventually said, "Fine. Your brother," he glared at Danny, "is safe."

"And my friends," Danny piped up, biting back the urge to grin like a madman.

"And his friends," Jazz agreed.

Dash growled deep in the back of his throat, clearly not pleased with the additional condition. "You should be satisfied that I'm agreeing to lay off your loser brother."

"Well," Jazz shrugged with airy indifference, "I guess if you don't want to be able to play in the next big game, that's fine too."

Dash's hand tightened around the strap of his bag until his knuckles turned white. "Fine," he ground out with some major effort. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jazz." His shoulder slammed into Danny as he passed by on his way down the hall toward the stairs.

Danny waited until Dash was well down the stairs before he spoke. "He's totally not going to keep to that promise."

Jazz sighed tiredly, following when Danny headed for his bedroom. "It's worth a try at least."

Danny tossed his bag toward his bed, missing it, and his bag thumped heavily onto the floor. He would worry about doing his homework after dinner, since he wouldn't be able to focus on any of his homework until after he got some real food in him. Then he shook his head with a light laugh as he turned back to his sister.

"I still don't understand how you're able to get Dash to listen to you." The only other person Danny could think of, who could get Dash to listen, was Kwan.

"Sometimes, there are better methods to solving a problem than using violence." Jazz smirked as they walked toward the stairs. Then she wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him close and forcing him to bend down slightly. She ruffled his raven locks with a laugh as Danny struggled to break free of her hold. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were both laughing and Dash had left the house.

"Maybe you can teach me the trick to making bullies back off," Danny said as they walked toward the kitchen, the smells of dinner still making his stomach cry in hunger.

"I don't think it would work for you, little brother." Jazz patted him on the shoulder before she left him and joined their mother at the counter, helping to serve up dinner onto the plates.

"All dressed up," his father said in surprise when he turned to Danny as he dried his hands off on a white towel. "Did you have a date?" He grinned, and Danny groaned inwardly at the teasing.

"It wasn't a date," Danny said, taking his spot at the kitchen table. "Sam made me wear this because the benefit was at this fancy place. And even with this," he gestured to the suit, "I felt completely under dressed because of all the rich people there."

"So it was a date with Sam?" His father smirked knowingly.

Danny groaned, dropping his head onto his folded arms. His sister and mother laughed as they joined them at the table, passing out plates of chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. With a sigh, Danny sat up, deciding the hunger gnawing at his sides trumped being embarrassed by his family asking about his love life, which was currently at he didn't have one. Thankfully, the topic of conversation turned away from him as Jazz launched into talking about her day and how the student council meeting went.

* * *

**Tetractys**: Maybe not quite yet. XD Yay Elle! I often times leave her out too much. orz That wasn't intentional. The Westons won't be appearing.

**The freedom girl**: They love each other. XD Deep down. Oh the things I have planned. *cackles evilly* But yes! Elle has a role to play here. 8) In the show though, they play Jazz off as not having friends, so I think that's a reason why Jazz would be jealous of Danny because he has such an easy time hanging out with Tucker and Sam while Jazz is shown struggling to relate with people her own age. You'll have to wait and see on Dan. 8)

**kirahphantom**: Sam sees all. XD

**midnight**: Sometimes being rich is a tragedy. D8 Poor Sam being carted off and presented to guys she has no interest in. orz

**MsFrizzle**: I do think Danny is smart. Just most of the time ghosts interfered with his studies and other times he just didn't apply himself. Like when he more obsessed with playing games than doing his homework. But he's shown he can do well in school when he actually takes it seriously. I'm not hiding Elle's identity very well, am I? XD I guess she should have some of his cunning manipulation rub off on her. XD;;


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 05**

"Why do you keep peeking around corners?" Tucker asked as they rounded a corner into the main hall. "Because if you're going for that sneaky, not going to be seen thing, it's totally not working for you."

Danny stood up straighter, shooting a glare at his friend. "I already have Dash gunning for my throat, and yesterday, I made an enemy of Valerie. I think staying under their radars until the end of the year is a wise idea."

Tucker laughed then shrank back as Danny's glare intensified. "What? You _know_ they have some sort of special Danny radar. No matter how hard you try to hide, they're going to find you."

Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping somewhat in defeat. "I really hate that about them." But it wouldn't stop him from trying. After his sister forced Dash into that promise of not harassing him and his friends, Danny would bet anything Dash would find a way to corner him and give him the beating of his lifetime. And Danny didn't look forward to it. He frowned as he glanced to his side. "Though maybe for your sakes, you and Sam should keep your distance at school. If Dash is looking for me, I don't want the two of you getting caught up in things."

"Pfft!" Tucker slapped an arm around Danny's shoulders. "We're best friends. We do everything together. If Dash messes with you, he's going to have to go through me."

"While you cower behind Sam?" Danny's mouth curled into a smirk. Then he laughed as Tucker gave him a shove, almost knocking him into a brunette freshman passing them. "Face it," Danny said after his laughter died a bit. "Out of the three of us, Sam is definitely the scariest."

Tucker frowned then sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'll give you that." Half a laugh managed to force itself out of him. "Remember how I puked in her lunch back in second grade? I was terrified she'd beat me up for that."

"Heh. Yeah, then we told her it was Ricky Marsh, and she went and kicked him off the monkey bars." They both laughed at the memory, Danny shaking his head. "I definitely wouldn't want to get on her bad side." But being on Dash and Valerie's bad sides was equally terrifying. He wasn't sure what Valerie might do after the little accident of spilling his drink on her dress, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

"Fenton."

The two friends stopped, snapping their heads forward when they heard the woman's voice. Danny groaned internally as an angry Valerie stood before them. She folded her arms, her green eyes narrowing icily at him as if she were trying to stab icicles into him by the sheer force of her glare. Danny should know by now if he thought about the A List for too long, eventually one of them popped up to make his life miserable. What was the saying? Speak of the devil, and he shall come? Apparently, he merely had to think for the devil to find him.

"Hey, Val," Tucker said, putting on one of his charming smiles. At least, _he_ thought they were charming. Most of the women in school he flirted with didn't share the same opinion. "You're looking good today."

"Cram it, Foley," Valerie snapped, barely taking her gaze off Danny to shoot Tucker a glare.

"Taking notes from Dash?" Danny sighed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other in an attempt to appear casual. He expected no good from this encounter. "Why is it so hard to call us by our first names? Does he think this is some military school or something?"

"Ugh, loser speak." Valerie made a face, rolling her eyes as she shuddered. "Look," she said firmly. "I need to have a word with you." She turned a pointed look onto Tucker. "Alone."

Taking the hint, Tucker patted Danny on the shoulder. "Well, we had a breakthrough for something to add to the robot last night. I think I'll just go see Mr. Technus and check in on how our idea is working." He gave a quick wave before he turned down the hall to head toward the room in which the robotics club met.

Valerie eyed the passing students warily as they took notice of her, an A List, standing around with him, a loser. "Let's go somewhere a little more private." She turned, leading the way.

_Right_, Danny thought as he followed after Valerie, _because this isn't going to start people talking_. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, trying to ignore all the looks they were receiving. "You know if you wanted to humiliate me, you could have just done it back in the main hall." Valerie ignored the comment as she pushed him through a side exit of the high school. Danny stumbled a step, putting a few feet of distance between them as they stood alone outside. "I'd really like to grab some lunch before next period, you know."

"Do you have any idea the kind of scrutiny I go through being in the A List?" Valerie demanded, stabbing a finger into Danny's chest. Hard. He winced as her nail dug into him.

For a moment, Danny could only stare at her like her hair glowed bright green. Then he laughed. "You're asking _me_ that? After all the times I've been humiliated trying to make friends with you A List members, you're going to ask me that?"

Valerie made a face, mock laughing. "Listen, Fenton." She grabbed hold of his shirt and yanked him a step closer to her. "Thanks to your little stunt, I missed out on a good portion of that benefit last night. Which did _not_ put in good standing with the rest of the A List who were attending it. If you were trying to embarrass me and make the rest of the A List reconsider my membership, congrats on very nearly succeeding."

"I apologized for spilling my drink on you!" Anger worked its way through Danny. "It was an accident! I didn't even know you were behind me. If I wanted to pour my drink on anyone there, it would probably be Paulina." He paused to think about it for a moment. "Wait. No, I retract that. If I could do it and get away with it, I would have dumped my drink on Sam's mom."

Rage was burning in Valerie's eyes, her hand twisting the front of his shirt so it pulled tightly on him. "Yeah, okay. I'll give you that. Sam's mom's dress was an eyesore. I'm sure everyone would have been thanking you for ruining it." Her mouth pressed thin, and Danny feared she was about to start ranting at him. "Actually," Valerie's expression shifted quickly from anger to cunning deviousness, "maybe you can be of use to me."

"Uh," Danny tried to discreetly pry his shirt free from her hand and step away, "not sure what you mean by that, but I'm gonna go with no." Valerie was a lot stronger than she looked and refused to release her hold on Danny.

"Let's make a deal. You, with all your klutzy loserness, humiliate some of the other A List girls, and I won't make your life miserable."

Danny's eyebrows lifted up with a look to say he thought she was crazy. "Won't make my life miserable? If I start going around purposely trying to embarrass the rest of the A List, Dash is going to pound me into the ground." And he knew Jazz wouldn't be able to say anything to make the jock stop this time.

"Paulina's been running this school like she's a queen since freshmen year, and Star is basically her right hand lady. Me," Valerie scowled, "I'm closer toward the bottom of the A List pyramid. A few more embarrassing incidents or something like what happened last night, and I can kiss being in the A List goodbye. But if you 'accidentally' spill your lunch or something on one of the others, I might be able to move up a little."

Danny sighed, exhaustion dragging down on him as he listened to her. Back in freshman year, he would have done anything to get in with the A List. Now he was more focused on keeping up with his homework and hanging out with his friends. After they graduated from Casper High, being popular wasn't going to matter. They would head off to college then they would have to hunt for jobs. Life had more important things than high school drama and the struggle to be popular.

"Don't you want some real friends?" Danny blurted out the question before he even thought about it. "I mean," he added quickly when he saw the anger spilling back into Valerie's green eyes, "it just doesn't sounded like anyone in the A List is really friends with anyone else if you're all looking for ways to cut each other down to gain more popularity for yourself."

"I have real friends," Valerie argued with a scowl. "Kwan and I have been friends practically since we were in diapers. Even," the words seemed to catch in her throat, and she had difficulty continuing, "if I weren't in the A List anymore, I know he would still be friends with me." Valerie continued when she saw Danny open his mouth to speak. "Do this for me and I won't make you pay my dry cleaning bill for the dress." She reached into her bag, and after pulling something out, she shoved into Danny's chest. Then with a flick of her long ebony hair, she entered the school again.

Danny stood stunned for a moment then scrambled to catch the fluttering slip of paper falling toward the ground. His eyes widened as he read over the bill Valerie left for him. "What?" he shouted in shock and outrage. "She can't expect me to pay this!" He didn't make a whole lot of money doing chores around the house for his parents, and he certainly couldn't make the few hundred of dollars the bill wanted. It was like being wedged between two bad options, and he doubted paying the bill would be the end of things if he didn't do what Valerie wanted of him.

Crumpling up the bill, Danny shoved it into his bag then yanked open the door to enter the school building again. He barely stepped a foot into the school when someone rammed into him with their bony shoulder as they pushed past him. Flatting himself against the door, Danny watched with a frown as the man stomped off away from the school building. He vaguely recognized the man with his dark uneven Mohawk, piercings, and tattoos. The Goth and punk styled clothes made him stand out, especially as a target of harassment from the A List.

"What are you doing here, Danny?"

He snapped his head around and blinked as his sister slowed from a jog as she neared him. "Just-" Danny's brow knitted together. "Were you just chasing him?" He pointed in the direction in which the other man had gone. He never had any worries about something happening between his sister and Dash whenever he saw the jock coming out of Jazz's room. His sister had expressed many a time she would never be interested in a bully. Danny put on his brotherly concerned face with a slight hint of disapproval.

"He didn't turn in his homework last period," Jazz explained with a shrug, but her expression was worried, and Danny thought it might have something to do with more than just homework. "I'll have to talk to him at our next tutor session." Reluctantly, she turned back around and walked down the hall. The dismissive tone and action suggested she wouldn't be answering any questions no matter how much her brother pestered her.

Danny let the door slam shut behind him as he walked, in long strides, down the hall to catch up with his sister. "No boring student council meeting tonight?"

"You know, Danny," Jazz turned her aqua colored eyes onto him, "it wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more active in school clubs. It'll look good to colleges when it comes to applying to them."

"Oh, is that why you're involved in virtually every club available in the school? And do about eighty hours of tutoring and volunteer work?" Danny frowned at his sister, not because he hated how bad she made him look with all her selfless good deeds but out of concern for her. "How do you even get enough sleep to function? You barely have any downtime to just relax."

"I think you do enough relaxing for the both of us, Mr. Up All Night Playing Video Games." Jazz stared pointedly at him, her mouth pressed thin in an expression her brother had learned to read as she was holding back lecturing him.

"You should try it some time." Danny grinned at his sister. "It's a lot of fun."

"I'll worry about _fun_ after graduating college and getting a good job." Jazz stopped when they reached the main hall and turned to face her brother. "Having fun is great, Danny. But you need to be serious about your education too. If you're not, how do you expect to find a good job? Do you _want_ to be flipping burgers at Nasty Burger for the rest of your life? Because I don't think you'll be having a lot of fun then."

Danny somehow managed to hold back a groan. "Okay, okay," he muttered, scratching at the back of his head as he looked away from his sister. "I get it. You can stop hounding me about it."

Jazz rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm just trying to look out for my baby brother." She offered a small, fond smile.

"Ugh," Danny groaned, leaning his head back as if complaining to the ceiling. "Do you have to call me that at school?"

"Well, I can't really call you little anymore," Jazz said teasingly with a nudge to his arm. "Now that you're like three inches taller than I am."

Danny had hoped when he surpassed his sister in height that it was a sign he inherited their father's grand stature. But he was only about average and still shorter than the likes of most jocks. He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he turned a crooked smirk onto his sister.

"Does that mean I can call you my _little_ sister?" He dropped a hand atop her auburn head then drew it straight back at him like he was measuring the height difference between them.

"No," Jazz answered, smacking him in the chest lightly with one of her text books, physics by the looks of it, "you cannot." Despite the protest, she wore a grin, which made Danny laugh in return. They parted ways there, Jazz heading off to the library, most likely, to do some studying and Danny walking toward the cafeteria to finally get his lunch.

* * *

**kirahphantom**: XD Poor Danny. Always being teased about dates. XD

**midnight**: And he looks darn good in that suit too! 8D It fits with canon too. XD Since Jazz used Dash to make him invite Danny to the Dash Bash. XD


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 06**

Danny somehow managed to slip onto the bus and sneak into the back before Dash could catch sight of him. He hunkered down by the window, trying to stay below the backseat level of the row in front of him in case the jock tried to scan the bus for him. In retrospect, complying with what Valerie asked of him probably wasn't his wisest move.

After lunch yesterday, Danny kept a water bottle on him, still mostly filled, and waited for a good opportunity. That being when Dash wasn't anywhere near Paulina or Star. Valerie's idea of humiliating the top women in the A List was risky enough. Doing anything in the presence of Dash was simply suicidal. But finally between sixth and seventh period, Danny spotted Paulina alone at her locker getting some books. It was a terrible idea. He knew it was, but he didn't like the idea of Valerie extorting money out of him simply because he ruined her dress. By accident!

Apologies never got him anywhere with the A List though. Except Kwan. Usually Kwan would just let him go when his clumsiness caused him to bump into the jock. Sometimes, Danny wondered how Kwan was even friends with Dash when their personalities were completely opposite. Kwan was kind and quiet while Dash was loud and aggressive.

Danny pushed the thought away as he walked toward Paulina. The water bottle was already opened, and his pounding heart thundered in his ears. He wasn't exactly the most graceful person, often tripping over his own feet, but he usually didn't go around purposely trying to run into someone. As he neared, he gulped nervously, and it felt like his throat had turned into sandpaper, each breath of air scratching along his throat. He glanced around the hall, making sure Dash hadn't appeared out of nowhere to catch him. The jock was absent, but Danny did catch Valerie across the hall watching him to see what he would do. Great. The idea of backing out left his mind as a million pounds of pressure urged him forward.

His feet tangled under him, and he stumbled forward, thrusting out the water bottle as his hand squeezed around it. The water shot out of it while Danny struggled to keep from crashing right into the ground. He lifted his head when he heard the outraged gasps to see Paulina tugging at her pink shirt, soaked through from the water. The woman behind her suffered some of the splash too, and guilt twisted inside him to see an innocent bystander caught in the mix.

Danny apologized profusely for the accident, but it didn't stop Paulina from growing angry with him, especially after the shock wore off the surrounding students and they burst into laughter at Paulina's misfortune. He made his escape before Paulina decided to bring out her claws for dumping water all over her.

Eyeing a few rows ahead of him on the bus where he could see the back of Dash's dumb blond head, Danny doubted there was any chance the jock hadn't heard about the incident from yesterday, and he didn't look forward to how Dash would react when the jock finally spotted him.

When the bus stopped, it jerked him out of his memories from yesterday. Danny glanced out the window to see the large company building towering over them. His mouth hung open a little as he gaped up at it. Of course, he had seen the building in the past. It stood in the downtown area of Amity Park, and he had past it with his family when they came downtown for shopping and sometimes to get dinner, usually for special occasions, like the time Jazz won an award at school. It was an impressive building, all sleek silver siding and thousands of windows. Danny had heard a lot about the various projects they worked on in Axion Labs, lots of new inventions in development, advancements in medicine, and many other projects that could change the world.

"Now," their teacher said, standing up at the front of the bus to call their attention to him, "I expect you all to be on your best behavior during this tour. And stick together. We've been offered this very generous opportunity to see just what Axion Labs has been working on recently. At noon, we'll stop for lunch in the cafeteria."

"We've been on field trips before," someone complained from the middle of the bus, and Danny was surprised to note it wasn't Dash.

Their teacher turned his worst stink eye upon the student who spoke up, a promise of punishment later. "Right," he grumbled, and Danny wouldn't be surprised if the man was wondering why he got stuck babysitting this group of teenagers on a field trip where half of them were likely to get in trouble. "Then let's go." He moved toward the open door of the bus. "No shouting or rough housing. Actually," he paused, blocking the way off the bus as the students got up to follow him, "do nothing but be quiet and listen to the tour guide." He glared then turned to head for the front doors of the building.

Danny grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as he stood to follow the rest of the students. He kept toward the back, trailing behind the group as they passed through the front entrance and stepped into the lobby of the building. His gaze didn't stray too far from Dash's location, but he managed to take in his surroundings. The lobby didn't have much to see to be excited about, just stark white walls and flooring and a front desk where a dark haired woman sat typing away at a computer. Or maybe she was playing a game to pass the time. Danny knew he would be doing that if he was stuck at a boring job.

Their tour guide was a short woman with her dark hair pulled out of her equally dark face. She smiled warmly at them as she greeted the group, her brown eyes twinkling. She led them up the escalator and off to one of the laboratories, describing the projects they were working on there. She had to warn them not to touch anything in the laboratory while other employees in white lab coats busily worked on things, examining things with microscopes and mixing different chemicals together. Some of the scientists actually stopped their work to talk to their group, quizzing them with various questions related to their work, which most of the students couldn't answer.

The next laboratory they were led to had various robotics in development. One the employees even let them mess with the controls on a robotic arm with a hand that looked remarkably close to human and could pick up items, like cups and pens. But they weren't allowed to touch anything else. Danny's attention was distracted briefly from the lecture about developing new prosthetics that would look and act just like real limbs for people when he saw a man step out from one of the doors in the laboratory. The man walked away with a folder tucked under one arm, exiting the laboratory through a different door. Danny wouldn't have even noticed the man, except he recognized the wild locks of white hair, like the man shoved his finger into a light socket and electrocuted himself.

What was their physics teacher doing here? Mr. Technus also oversaw the robotics club. Glancing around the laboratory and all the robotics being worked on, Danny guessed that should have clued him in on the why. But his mind still boggled over the fact that Mr. Technus was here at Axion Labs.

They were shown to some of the other laboratories after that, and Danny continued hanging at the back, trying not to draw any attention to himself. Up ahead, he spotted Dash messing around with one of the other students. The jock pushed the shorter, scrawnier man with his elbow, grinning cruelly as the other student almost fell to the ground. His thick glasses that made his gray eyes look huge and bug like slipped down to the point of his nose. Danny frowned as he watched the interaction, which their teacher seemed not to notice.

"And if you follow me, we'll go to the cafeteria," the tour guide said, leading them through another laboratory currently empty of employees, but the sight of the laboratory suggested it was mostly used for experimental projects. Mechanical hands hung from the ceiling, most likely used for moving questionable items that could prove dangerous to be handled by the employees. "I'm sure you're all getting hungry by now." She offered them a teasing smile. "And don't worry. Everything is free for you, so you can have whatever you like." A few students cheered, eager to grab some lunch.

"Looks like you don't need that lunch money after all," Dash said, catching the back collar of the shorter man's shirt, before they could leave the laboratory with the rest of the group. He twisted the other student around and held him pinned to the wall next to the exit. "So fork it over, Poindexter." Dash shoved a hand into Poindexter's face, waiting to be handed whatever money the man had on him.

Danny ground his teeth at the all too familiar scenario. Dash had bullied enough lunch money out of him in the past that Danny was reluctant to even bring his wallet to school. "Cut it out, Dash," he ordered in a surprisingly strong voice. He knew it was a bad choice when he saw the jock release his hold on Poindexter, and Danny gulped as Dash glared coldly at him. Poindexter, however, saw this moment as a golden opportunity, and one he decided to take when he slipped away from Dash and darted out of the laboratory before the jock could notice. Danny somehow managed to continue glaring at him as Dash stomped closer to him.

"Been hiding like a little coward loser, huh?" Dash gave him a hard shove, and Danny stumbled back a few steps. "Then you try to act like a cool tough guy by standing up for that nerd?" He threw a punch.

On instinct, Danny raised an arm to defend himself. The fist slammed into his forearm, and he knew he would have a bruise there for days. He hit the console to his right, the hard edge digging into his side. "Why don't you leave Poindexter alone?" He tentatively lowered his arm enough to look over it at the jock. "He already gets harassed enough by the rest of your meathead teammates. He's never even done anything to any of you." He dodged quickly to the side when he saw another punch aimed at him. Dash's fist slammed into the console. Danny vaguely noted some lights flickering on and a noise faint in the background.

"You, on the other hand," Dash said, stalking after Danny, who tried to keep the distance between them, "made a big mistake yesterday." He shook out his hand a bit after having punched the console, and there was a small scrape on his knuckle.

"We should, uh," Danny glanced around the empty laboratory, "probably catch up with the group. You know, before Mr. Green notices we're missing."

"Listen, Fenton. You mess with Paulina like that again, and I'll make you regret it."

A cold sweat prickled at the back of Danny's neck. He had no doubts about the beating Dash would give him next time Danny tried to do something to humiliate Paulina under Valerie's orders. Why did he have to get caught up in some sort of A List hierarchy struggle?

"That was an accident," Danny explained, licking dry lips nervously. "I tripped. I apologized for it too."

"Right." Dash nodded with a roll of his blue eyes. "You tripped." Obviously, he didn't believe the lie, but Dash had never believed any of his excuses and apologies in the past either.

Danny's hands curled at his sides, nails biting into his palms as anger boiled inside him. "You know what, _Dwayne_," a smirk almost curled upon his face when Dash's nose flared in rage upon having his real name called out, "it's not all about you A Listers. I don't sit around everyday thinking, 'Hm, how do I want to humiliate the A List today?' You're not the center-" The words died in his throat, and the color drained from his face as he noticed something moving behind Dash.

"What are you-"

But Danny grabbed hold of Dash's arm then tugged him forward a step before placing a hand on the jock's broad chest and shoving him away before the question could be finished. Dash stumbled backward toward the exit of the laboratory but managed to keep his balance enough to prevent him from falling on his butt. His wide eyed expression of shock would be comical if the three prong mechanical arm didn't grab hold of Danny in the next second. He winced as it clamped around his shoulder, two pointy metal fingers on top of his shoulder while the third dug into his armpit. The arm jerked, and Danny released a pathetic yelp as the pain intensified, the prongs digging tighter into his shoulder. His feet dangled uselessly a few inches off the ground, and Danny grabbed at the arm with his free hand to keep his trapped arm from being ripped from its socket.

"Das-" Danny gasped when the arm thrust him forward, slamming him back into the wall on the opposite side. A crash of glass could barely be heard over the thunder of blood pounding in his ears. The arm released him, allowing him to drop and slide off a table to his knees on the floor before the arm could ram forward again. It punched at the wall where his chest would be if he hadn't moved. It struck with a clang that resonated through the room.

"What is going on in here?"

Danny cringed, recognizing the voice and the disapproving anger in it. He lifted his head, peeking up through raven bangs to see their teacher had come back into the laboratory. Along with a few of the scientists who rushed over to the console to stop the mechanical arm from going crazy. Danny shuddered as something warm and wet oozed down the back of his neck. Shakily, he rose to his feet, his back hurting but his right shoulder throbbing like Dash had pounded on it for ten weeks straight.

"He," Dash said, already lifting his arm to point at Danny.

"Sorry," Danny said as he rubbed at his back. "I couldn't resist taking a little look at things. I guess I hit a wrong button though." He almost laughed at the way Dash's face morphed into shock, dark blue eyes widening and mouth hanging slightly open.

"The two of you," Mr. Green pointed at Danny and Dash. "I warned you not to embarrass us on this trip. Both of you are to go wait in the bus until we're ready to leave. Now I have to go make apologies for your behavior and damaging their equipment."

"But Dash didn't even do anything!" Danny protested, though he would bet if Dash hadn't punched the console, nothing would have happened. He swallowed at the glare Mr. Green sent him. It was the glare saying one more word out of his mouth would earn him a month's worth of detention. He didn't need the lecture from Jazz or his parents if that happened.

"Both of you, to the bus now!" Mr. Green pulled out a pad of paper from the pocket of his jacket and scribbled down a quick note. "Give this to the driver." He ripped the top slip from the pad and handed it to Dash. "Can you manage that? Or do I need them to get a security guard to escort you out?"

"We can manage, Sir!" Dash said at once, and Danny thought the jock was going to salute their teacher like he was a drill sergeant. Danny froze when Dash walked toward him, but the jock merely grabbed his arm then pulled him along out the exit of the laboratory.

"Didn't we have a sample left out here?" one of the scientists asked right as they passed through the doors.

They walked to the escalator leading down to the lobby in a tense silence, which made Danny nervous. He waited for Dash to lash out at him. Maybe the jock would shove him down the escalator or something. He winced at prickle of pain stinging every once and a while on the back of his neck.

"What's up with you?" Dash asked, his brow furrowing with anger, but his eyes said something different.

"Just my neck," Danny mumbled as they stepped onto the top of the escalator. "And look," he added firmly, glaring at Dash. "I didn't mean for you to get into trouble too. I thought Mr. Green would let you go scot free since there was no evidence tying you to having done anything wrong."

Dash merely shook his head as they continued down the escalator. When they reached the lobby, they headed straight for the front doors of the building. Depression settled over him, only mildly numbing the throbbing and stinging. Danny had looked forward to this field trip, and now the whole thing was ruined. He would miss out on seeing everything else they were working on at Axion Labs. He could kick Dash! If the jock wouldn't beat the snot out of him in return.

* * *

**midnight**: Poor Danny. Whenever something happens, he seems to get caught right in the middle of it. I think Val has some anger issues she needs to work out. D: Hm~ I wonder. 8)

**Tetractys**: *sighs* Dash, your jerkiness is going to cause a lot of problems. But yay siblings! 8D

**HawkeyeLover**: 8D Yes~ A Dan x Danny story at last! And I swear Dan is in fact in this story. Eventually. Somewhere. *makes mysterious noises* Haha. *stamps a foot* It's too annoying with them all being Dan, Danny, and Dani. That's too many Dan names! And since no clones or evil future in here, it would be a little weird with them all having the same name. XD You know?

**Newspace19**: I haven't actually seen any of Pretty Little Liars. XD But I'm glad you're liking the story!

**The freedom girl**: Poor Danny. Somehow he got stuck as the favorite punching bag of the A List. Except for Kwan, who's too much a big teddy bear. Aw~ Thanks! 8D I'm enjoying their teasing interactions. Oh look! There's Poindexter too. XD Haha, yeah. Not everyone is a ghost here.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 07**

The bus driver was a small, wrinkly old man, who Danny was surprised could even reach the pedals with his short, knobby kneed legs. His leather red in the face skin was worn with laugh lines around the mouth and crinkles in the corners of his eyes. When they arrived and climbed through the door he opened, the driver had a half wrapped sandwich in one hand and a Styrofoam coffee cup sitting on the dashboard.

"Ha!" he released a bark of amusement. "Not even noon yet." He grinned, showing off yellow stained teeth as Dash shoved the teacher's note at the man. "Ol' Greenie owes me fifty bucks." He gave the note a cursory glance over before tossing it aside. "He had a little more faith in his students. But I told him, I told Ol' Greenie, you young rascals would stir up trouble before half the day was done."

Dash's hand was curled tightly at his side, and Danny wouldn't be surprised if the jock wanted to punch the driver. But Dash held back, not needing further punishment and potentially being benched from the football team. Danny, meanwhile, slipped past the jock and headed for the back of the bus where he could at least pretend not to hear the driver's commentary about the "punk youth" of the country.

Danny collapsed onto the seat in the very back of the bus, releasing a heavy sigh as he stared wistfully up at the building. He didn't regret standing up against Dash in that moment, not really, because he knew what it was like to be bullied. Sidney Poindexter was widely known at the school as a nerdy little genius and subjected to more bullying than even Danny. Feeling sorry for Poindexter, Danny had wanted to do something to save him from one more beating.

"Hey."

Danny jumped then hissed at the aggravated pain in his neck and shoulder. Tearing his gaze away from the window, he glanced up toward the front of the bus where the driver happily tore into his sandwich, giving no mind to the "troublemakers" in his care. He slowly dragged his gaze up to Dash, his eyes narrowing a touch to get the point across that he wasn't in the mood to be pushed around by the jock.

"What do you want?" he demanded as his muscles tensed, which did little to help the soreness in his shoulder.

"Let me take a look at that." Dash nodded toward Danny's neck as he slid onto the seat next to him.

Danny shifted uncomfortably, trying to recall the last time he was this close to the jock without hearing insults slung his way, getting beaten up, or having his life threatened. His gaze flicked over the man next to him, but Dash so far hadn't done anything to indicate he planned on doing anything. Somewhat reluctantly, he turned his back toward Dash, drawing one leg up onto the seat. It was probably a bad idea, showing his back to the jock, but he didn't really feel like putting up a fight at the moment. He let his bag drop to the floor as he bowed his head, showing off more of his neck to the jock.

His breath hitched up slightly when he felt the tug on the back of his coat and shirt. Danny picked at a loose thread on his jeans, finding the whole situation to be uncomfortable. Then he gasped at a sharp sting to the back of his neck.

"Sorry," Dash mumbled. "You had a bit of glass in this cut." A plinking sounded as the glass piece hit the floor of the bus. "By the way, ew. There's pus, and it looks all gross."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Gee, I'm sorry," he muttered sarcastically.

"I think I have something for that." Dash unzipped his bag and rifled inside it.

"Um," Danny flicked his gaze around as his head remained bowed, "not that I don't appreciate it or anything. But why are you doing this?" He swallowed with a lurch in his stomach. He didn't want to give Dash reason the beat the crap out of him in the back of the bus with only the wrinkly old driver to save him. But Dash wanting to help him? Danny couldn't fathom the answer to that or even connect it as reality.

"You're either stupidly brave," Dash said as he rubbed something cool over the cut on Danny's neck, earning another gasp, "or bravely stupid. I'm not sure which. But if you hadn't pushed me out of the way, that thing would have grabbed hold of me instead."

"Can't have that," Danny mumbled as his mouth drew into a thin line. "Anyway, you have that game next week. Our team would never survive if you had to sit out because of an injury."

Dash's finger paused over the base of Danny's neck. "Heh. Didn't know you even cared." The hand moved away, much to Danny's relief.

"How else are we going to maintain our title of reigning state champion?" Danny rolled his eyes. He wasn't a huge football fan, the way his father was, but he did enjoy attending the high school games with his friends and cheering on their team. Not that the other players weren't good, but without Dash as the quarterback and captain, they would be slaughtered.

Dash snorted, pressing a bandage over the cut on Danny's neck. "If we had to rely on Williams, we'd be screwed. The guy can talk a big game, but he sucks at being quarterback. He thinks it's easy, but it's not. You gotta really take in the whole field and where everyone is. Even if you have a play set up, things don't always go as plan. You gotta know when to make a different play in an instant. Williams doesn't have the mind for that."

Danny reached back, his fingers brushing over the bandage on the back of his neck as he twisted on the seat to sit straight again. "Ragging on your teammate in front of a loser?" He lifted an eyebrow at the jock, who was stuffing first aid items back into his bag. "Isn't that against some sort of A List code?"

After zipping up his bag and dropping it to the floor, Dash sat back and folded his arms. "Only if you go and tell people." He shot a meaningful glare at Danny and cracked the knuckles of one fist to emphasize his threat.

"Wasn't planning on it." Danny managed a weak laugh, wishing he had more room to get away from the jock. But as it was, his shoulder already pressed against the side of the bus. "Anyway, who would believe big bad Dash Baxter patched up little loser me?" He frowned, absently touching the bandage again. "Still kind of weird, by the way. And this," he gestured between them, "too." He raised an eyebrow like he was asking if Dash had hit his head or something during the chaos in the laboratory.

Dash's broad shoulders hunched up. "You put yourself at risk for me. Kind of deserved some points there." He snapped a finger in Danny's face. "But don't expect me to be nice to you after this. You're still a loser."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Loser for life. I should just get that tattooed across my forehead."

"I know a guy," Dash offered, settling back comfortably against the seat. Danny couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Then Dash's neutral expression broke, a smirk cracking across his face, and for some reason, it made Danny relax.

Danny leaned back, wincing slightly when his shoulder throbbed. "So how many times do I have to save your life before I can be bumped up from loser status?"

Dash snorted. "Ha! You got lucky this time."

Danny held back commenting about how he wouldn't have had to save Dash if the jock hadn't tried to attack him. An awkward silence fell over them, and Danny searched for something to say. As weird as having a civil conversation with Dash was, the silence was uncomfortable. He felt a need to fill the quiet with something, but they didn't exactly have anything in common. His gaze swept around the nearly empty bus before it landed on their bags sitting on the floor.

"Do you always walk around with a first aid kit in your bag?" Danny lifted a curious eyebrow at the jock.

Dash turned his head, an eyebrow arching slightly. "Maybe a nerd like you thinks it's weird." He snorted at Danny, who couldn't help feeling insulted. "But Kwan decided, since we're always rough housing and tending to injure ourselves, it would be smart if we kept some supplies on hand. Just the basics." He shrugged to say it was nothing big. "Just things like bandages and disinfectant." He released a bark of a laugh. "I still have this huge scar on my shin," he pointed to his left leg, "from when I fell off riding on the back of his bike when we were twelve."

Danny breathed out a laugh, shaking his head. "Gee, I'm glad Nurse Dash was on the job."

Dash gave him a shove, knocking him against the wall of the bus. He frowned when Danny sucked in a sharp breath at the irritation to his shoulder. "How's the, uh, you know?" The jock gestured awkwardly to his shoulder to indicate his meaning.

Danny grimaced and tried not to move his shoulder at all. "I want to say you've done worse. But it felt like that thing was going to rip my arm off. I won't be surprised if the bruises last for months." He wondered how long it would be before he could use his arm normally again without having shooting, throbbing pain through his shoulder.

"I could bind it up, but," Dash sent a glance toward the front of the bus where the driver was chugging down his coffee, "I don't think he'll let me off the bus to go grab some ice."

Danny shrugged his good shoulder and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We've only got a few hours until we go home. I think I can somehow manage to survive until then. As difficult as it might be." He feigned deathly agony. After a beat of silence passed between them, Danny shifted awkwardly as he glanced at Dash. "So, uh, we seem to be getting along pretty well right now, and I don't want to ruin that or anything because I rather like not getting beat up, but I have to wonder. Why exactly do you always have to beat me up? I mean, we're talking pretty well right now, so I don't get why you're always so angry with me when most of the time, I haven't really done anything to you."

"You're a loser," Dash stated flatly like that was the only answer needed. His mouth pressed thin, and something in his dark blue eyes told Danny the jock's mind was on something else. "I'm just being nice to you right now because of what you did. Don't think it's gonna last long though. As soon as the rest of the class returns-"

"Yeah, yeah." Danny held up his good hand. "You'll go right back to treating me like a loser. Got it."

"Good." Dash gave a curt nod.

The familiar ringtone of his phone jingling through the bus interrupted the silence that had fallen. Danny shifted with a cringe and dug into his pocket to retrieve his phone. When he checked the caller, he didn't recognize the number on the screen. He accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear while Dash seemed content to ignore him.

"Hello?" Danny responded.

"Ah! I was afraid you would be in class still or something," the woman said, and Danny blinked in surprise upon recognizing the voice. "I don't know what your schedule is like."

"Oh, hey!" Danny grinned as he relaxed back against the seat. He hadn't heard from Elle since the whole benefit thing, so he thought maybe she wasn't serious about having him tutor her. "It's cool. I'm, uh, at lunch right now."

"Oh, good!" Elle breathed out a sigh, and it sounded like she was smiling. "I didn't want to call and interrupt class and get you into trouble or something."

"No need to worry about that." Danny winced since he was already in trouble, but he decided not to tell Elle about that. "So, uh, what did you need?"

"Right. I'll keep this short. It's about the whole tutor thing." Elle's answer came as no surprise to Danny, who pretty much guessed that as the reason for the call already. "My weekend is basically a blank slate at the moment. So I thought maybe you could come over sometime, and we can get started. I'll send you my address, and you can come over whenever's convenient."

"Uh, sure," Danny said, shrugging his good shoulder. "You sure I shouldn't call first. I wouldn't want to show up unannounced and have it be a bad time."

"Don't worry about it." Elle didn't seem bothered at all about people randomly showing up at her house. "I'll just be hanging out around the house. Bored. So it's fine whenever."

"Well, if you're sure."

"Great! Sending the address now. I'll see you later!"

"See you," Danny laughed a little awkwardly, "this weekend." He ended the call and found the address on his phone. With a shake of his head, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

"Making plans with your girlfriend?" Dash asked, reminding Danny that the jock was there.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Danny sighed tiredly. "Sam is just a friend."

Dash rolled his eyes then smirked. "Boyfriend then?"

Danny took a deep breath, forcing calm to pass through him before he dared to respond. "Dash, I know Tucker and I say we share everything. But we're not interested in each other like that."

"Well, the only other person I can think of who would call a loser like you is Jazz." Dash's nose wrinkled up, his eyes squinting a touch. "And I _really_ hope you weren't making plans with her."

"Uh, ew!" Danny made a sickened face at the jock, and his stomach felt like it was trying to kick up his breakfast at _that_ idea. "Don't be gross, Dash. It was just this girl I'm supposed to tutor." Though he was fairly certain after the first session, Elle would realize he wasn't the best person for the job and kick him out of her house.

"You picked up a girl?" Dash raised a skeptical eyebrow, clearly not believing Danny was capable of it.

"I didn't pick her up. It's not a date. It's a tutoring session." Danny pointedly turned his gaze away to stare out the window and back at the building of Axion Labs. He didn't even get to see the space projects they were working on!

Thankfully, Dash didn't push the subject, and they fell into a comfortable silence. The rest of the wait was fairly boring, with the driver grumbling about one thing or another, though Danny wasn't paying much attention to him. In a few hours, their class exited the building, and Dash vanished from beside Danny before he even realized it. The jock took up his place several rows ahead of Danny, and it was like they hadn't had any interaction at all during their punishment in the bus. Danny could almost believe the whole thing was all in his head, except the bandage on the back of his neck proved it had happened. Noise filled the bus as chattering students filed onto it and found spots to sit. After a few minutes of loud chaos, everyone was sitting down, and the driver pulled the bus away from the curb.

* * *

**The freedom girl**: Even without powers, Danny still feels compelled to stand up for people! Maybe Danny hit his head a little too hard. Or, maybe, he just figured Dash would beat him up less if he took the fall. XD;; *smiles innocently* Sample? Spilled on Danny? I have no idea what you mean. 8)

**DB-KT**: That's always a sign of trouble, isn't it!? Well, with the way Danny Phantom was heavily inspired by it. XD;;; Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. =)

**midnight**: I had to sit there for a while and really think about a good dorky name for him to have. XD;;; Eugene kept popping up for obvious reasons, and for those same reasons couldn't be used. Poor Danny. That was a lot of ouch.

**kirahphantom**: Dash has his problems. orz Hmmm, could it have been? 8)

**HawkeyeLover**: Well, Dan is Danny's evil future. But it also ignored that Vlad was a part of Dan. XD;;; I'm still trying to figure out a name for Dan other than Phantom. Because he can't be Phantom while Danny is Phantom. orz

**simplegay me**: Thanks! =) Dan is in the story! I swear it! XD;; When I was writing this chapter, I was talking to my friend and said to her, "I wonder how many people will read this and think the story is leaning toward Dash x Danny." XD;;;


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 08**

It was a miracle, a divine gift, the heavens were shining down upon him, and for once the universe was turning a blind eye instead of playing a huge cosmic joke upon him. In other words, Mr. Green, for some weird possibly body snatcher kind of reason, had decided not to phone his parents after the field trip to Axion Labs and inform them of their son's misbehavior, and destruction of property, while on said field trip. Danny arrived home with Jazz as anxiety had his palms sweating and his throat feeling too tight. But when he walked into the house, he didn't find his parents waiting with arms folded, feet tapping impatiently, and daggers glaring at him with disappointment in their eyes. It was almost as if the incident at Axion Labs hadn't happened, and he was free to go about his Friday night doing the usual thing like every other Friday night.

"We should be home by ten," his mother said as she and his father headed for the front door.

"Uh huh," Danny responded distractedly, his eyes glued to the television as he hit buttons on the game controller, moving his character around the screen and trying not to have it die brutally.

"And don't spend all night playing that game," his father said sternly. "It might be a Friday night, but that's no excuse to blow off your homework until the last minute. Didn't you say you had a big report due on Monday?"

"Yeah," Danny glanced briefly at his parents, shrinking only slightly under their glares. "I'm going to get to it. I just wanted to relax a little before diving into such stressful work."

His mother sighed eventually, letting up on her glare. "As long as it gets done and we don't hear anything bad from your teachers." She gave him one last pointed glare before she pushed her husband out the front door.

Danny rolled his eyes after hearing the door shut behind his parents. They could be a bit pushy about keeping up with his studies, which he found highly annoying, but he got passing grades, so they didn't have much reason to worry. His opponent rounded the corner in his video game, and before he could react, his character took a bullet to the head. The screen turned red as YOU LOSE flashed in big letters.

"Oh, come on!" Danny complained in frustration as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. One moment of distraction had cost him the round, and he could practically hear his opponent gloating over the victory, even though he had muted his headset while his parents were talking to him.

"Having problems with that game?" his sister asked when she hit the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look at him as she rifled distractedly through her bag.

"Eh," Danny shrugged his good shoulder as he accepted a second challenge from the same player. Thankfully, he had managed to get away without his family noticing the injury, which would have led to questions demanding answers, especially from Jazz. "You know, the 'rents chatting and distracting me. Let the guy sneak up on me." He flicked his gaze to Jazz. "I think Mom left us some dinner in the fridge." He turned his attention back to the game with enough time to manage dodging another sneak attack, which would have definitely ended in his brutal defeat.

"I've got a study date tonight," Jazz said, closing up her bag, "so you're all on your own." She grabbed her coat from the front hall closet.

Danny bolted up straight from his lounging position and snapped his head around so fast to stare at his sister something could have popped. He forced back a wince as the pull of his shoulder muscles aggravated the injury. "Study date?" He quickly got his character into a safe spot so he could glare at his sister fully, doing his best impression of their father's glare of disapproval.

He _guessed_ his sister would be considered pretty with her long auburn hair and bright aqua colored eyes, shining with her eagerness to learn. Elected class president, head of the debate team, member of several different clubs and activities, her involvement in their high school made her younger brother look like the ultimate slacker. It was infuriating sometimes, being in her shadow and having people compare him to her.

"Do I need to do the thing where I stalk you to make sure nothing untoward happens on this 'study' date?"

Jazz rolled her eyes at him. "Do _I_ need to call a babysitter to ensure you stay at home and behave yourself?" After pulling on her coat, she shouldered her bag as she gave him a flat glare. "Anyway this study date is with Maggie. She needs help with her calculus homework and wants to go over a few things before our test on Monday. You," she pointed a finger with a threat almost entering her eyes, "stay here. And don't get into trouble."

"Pfft!" Danny snorted and rolled his eyes as he turned back to his game, thankfully his opponent hadn't found his hiding location. "I'm not going to get into trouble."

"Good." His sister walked toward the front door. "And don't forget to do _your_ homework."

"Yes, _Mom_." Danny made a face, and his sister returned it. Then they both laughed and said goodbyes as Jazz left the house. When he was alone with only the sounds of the game filling the house, he tapped the headset to turn it back on as he focused on the match against his opponent. The first thing to meet his ears was loud laughter on the other end.

"Hello," the man's deep voice sang out, "earth to AstroNerd! Did I lose you? Are you off orbiting the planet? Should I call up NASA to send a search party to find you?"

Danny tried but couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of him. "I'm back," he assured his opponent. "Just had to get rid of some distractions."

"Oh, OH! There you are!" A bullet nearly struck Danny's character, and only his quick reaction saved him. "That was sneaky! You have to tell where your magical hiding spot is. I swear I ran all over this stupid map and couldn't find you."

"Heh." Danny grinned, firing back, but his opponent was well skilled at the game and did some freakish acrobatics to escape the kill shot. "You tell me how you do stuff like that first."

"Ha! You ain't cool enough to steal my moves."

Then his character was charging toward Danny's, shooting out a barrage of bullets that made Danny have to duck behind a building on his rooftop to avoid getting hit. He could still see his opponent's character from the camera angle, and his mouth dropped as he watched the character vault the gap from one building to the next. Then he vanished out of sight. A scream was the last thing he heard before a splat sounded and the words YOU WIN screamed across his screen. Danny laughed so hard tears nearly ran from his eyes.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Danny managed to say between fits of laughter.

"I totally could have made that jump in real life!" his opponent argued.

Danny snorted, struggling to calm himself after the spectacular suicide his opponent just did. "I don't advise you try it."

"This game is clearly lacking in some serious realism if it thinks a man can't make that jump," he argued, actually sounding like he might be pouting. "I feel highly insulted."

"Aw!" Danny tried to keep the amusement out of his voice and sound sympathetic. Honest he did! "Maybe you should write them a complaint informing them of their errors."

"Ha! Maybe I will!"

Danny shook his head with a wide grin on his face. "Well, my formidable opponent, I shall leave you to that then. I have some work to take care of."

The man gasped in a wounded manner. "You have something more important than me?"

"Sorry." Danny frowned, only because he _was_ enjoying talking to the man. "I only have a short window to work before I have people around to ruin things."

"Ah." Disappointment lingered in the man's tone. "Well, I have a bit of work I should be doing now too. And I'm now adding AstroNerd to my friend list. I never actually thought I'd used the thing."

"So... What? I'm the only friend on your list?" Danny blinked in surprise.

"Ja." The man tried for a German accent but failed miserably. "And how many do you have, Mr. Big Shot?"

Danny opened up his friends list and frowned at it. After a moment, he added his opponent to the list. "Three now," he said with a satisfied feeling. Tucker and Sam were the only people who he knew, and random opponents generally didn't want to add him to their friends list. He had run across his fair share of jerks.

"And you were going to make fun of me?"

Danny's face heated, and he was glad the man couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah," he said, going for cool and aloof. "At least I'm not the loser going around being known by an initial."

"Oh!" There was something wicked in his voice, a deviousness that made Danny nervous. "You totally want the D."

Danny nearly choked. "The D?" He laughed, awkwardly and strained and prayed the man didn't catch it. "Do people even say that anymore? I thought that died, like, five seconds after it started. Dude, that was really lame." He shifted on the couch, feeling flustered. "That totally wasn't a come on, right?"

"What? No! The D is so still a thing. Are you trapped on the moon or something?" A smirk slipped into his voice as he added, "If you want it to be."

Danny eyed the television as a strange laugh forced itself out of him. "Uh, yeah, so I have that thing still to do. I guess I'll catch you sometime later?"

"You bet!" D sounded a little too happy, almost like he was bouncing with excitement. "Don't get lost amongst the stars, AstroNerd."

Danny snorted. "Yeah, I'll try." After goodbyes, he shook his head as he yanked off the headset. He pushed himself off the couch, carrying headset and game controller over to the entertainment unit. Once the game system was shut off, Danny grabbed his bag from where he left it by the couch. A slow smile crept onto his face as he hurried into the kitchen.

With his parents off to a meeting and now with his sister gone, Danny had plenty of time to do a little poking around without his parents being the wiser. When he reached the door leading to the basement, he crouched down and pulled out two thin bits of wire from his pocket. His tongue poked out of his mouth as he moved the wires about inside the lock, working the tumblers until he heard the familiar click signaling the release. With a wide grin, he pushed open the door.

"One of these days, I should thank Aunt Alicia for teaching me that." Danny stuffed the lock picks back into his pockets then bounded down the stairs into the basement, almost able to ignore the soreness in his shoulder. The lights came on the moment he hit the bottom of the stairs, shining off metal surfaces. His parents' laboratory. It took his breath away every time he sneaked into it for a little peek at their research. It was like stepping onto the set for some futuristic movie with technology they couldn't even imagine yet, like when he was at Axion Labs, but his parents' laboratory had a much different feel to it. With some of his parents' mess around, the laboratory had a far less clinical atmosphere.

Danny dropped into a chair, pulling out a worn notebook stuffed with a million extra sheets of paper from his bag. He flipped on the computer before him, and while it was booting up, he put on his glasses and sifted through his notebook to find a clean page, which was far more difficult than he would have thought. Pages upon pages of the book were filled with his notes on his parents' research. Currently, they were studying the uses of ectoplasm, which was fascinating, though the scientific community at large believed their research to be the stuff of science fiction. The other scientists didn't believe in such "nonsense" as ghosts, but it didn't stop his parents from digging into everything they could about ectoplasm, which wasn't a lot and samples were hard to come by. They believed it could have many uses, such as their theory on it providing a self sustaining energy source. A fact he knew Sam would love to hear about since she was all about saving the environment.

Once the computer was up and running, Danny grinned like a child about to open Christmas presents. With a crack of his knuckles, he got to work, bringing up new files on his parents' work. He jotted down notes while he read through the files, occasionally crossing out some parts to rework equations. Every once and a while, he had to pause in his work to scratch at the back of his neck, right over the bandage. For the last few hours, he had tried to ignore the growing itch, but he eventually had to cave when the sensation became too much.

Focusing back on his book, he wrote out his own thoughts along the margin of the page, and within minutes, he had to flip to another page. Time ticked by fast than he realized, and an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Danny stretched his arms over his head, cringing as his injured shoulder screamed in protest. Then something on the screen caught his attention. He clicked on a file hidden behind another one. His blue eyes flicked over the information, and he nearly laughed. He spun around in the chair, and his eyes zeroed onto the overly obvious doors set into the wall on the other side of the laboratory.

"They finally finished it!"

Danny hopped up from the chair then walked over to the octagonal doors of yellow and black stripes. According to his parents' notes, they had tested the invention a number of times without success since its completion. Danny stared at the doors before him with a mixture of apprehension and excitement building inside him. Hesitantly, he reached out, and his hand hovered over the red button next to the door for several long moments before he finally pressed it. The doors whined as they broke apart and slowly opened, and he got his first sight of the metal interior. It was amazingly intricate work, and Danny's eyes widened as he tried to take it all in at once. He had witnessed its progress over many years, but it was only bits and pieces then, not the completed product currently standing before him. The machine was designed to punch a small hole between dimensions, his parents hoping it would allow them to "summon" a ghost, like some bizarre demonic circle, so they could further their research on ectoplasm. This was all theory though, since they had no proof of an alternate world made up of ghosts actually existing.

Dropping his gaze, he looked around until he saw the wire lying on the floor. Unplugged. He shook his head at himself. Of course it was unplugged. His parents wouldn't leave the machine plugged in while they weren't there to monitor it. Crouching down, Danny picked up the wire to the machine then pushed it into the extension cord reaching around to the nearest socket. His eyes turned toward the machine, but he only saw a small spark, which fizzled out quickly.

With a frown settling upon his face, Danny walked over to the machine. Their theory seemed sound enough to him. So what was preventing the machine from working? Going against his better judgment, Danny stepped through the open doors. He frowned as his fingers brushed over the work his parents had done, still in awe over the fact that his parents finally finished it. But after nearly half an hour, he had searched practically the entire inside of the machine only to find nothing seemed out of place. None of the components were damaged, all wires were connected, and everything was firmly built into its proper place. He scratched the back of his neck, the irritation of the cut increasing by the minute, as he tried to understand where his parents' theory could have gone wrong.

"I just don't get it," Danny mumbled, frowning in disappointment. Maybe they still had a lot of research to do before they could get the machine working after all. He pressed his hand to the wall as he stood from where he had knelt to look at some parts of the machine.

The doors slammed shut with a resounding bang. Danny stumbled back a few steps, nearly tripping and landing on his butt in his surprise. When he rushed forward in his panic, he banged into the doors in the darkness.

"Ow." He rubbed at his forehead, but the whirring of a machine starting up sent icy dread sliding down his spine. He clawed at the doors with little luck of prying them open. He couldn't even get his fingers into the small crease between the closed doors.

Then every muscle in his body tensed, the hair on his arms standing on end, when he heard a sharp popping. He recognized that noise. It was like the time they went to the science museum and he saw the exhibit where bolts of electricity danced around the room. Swallowing thickly, Danny turned around, pressing his back against the doors. Another pop of electricity echoed in his ears, flashing before his eyes and striking too close to him for comfort. For a moment, the whole chamber filled with a green glow before everything faded back to darkness. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched and heard the pops of electricity sing out within the machine, making his ears ring. The itch on the back of his neck, right where had was cut earlier, grew maddeningly worse as the electricity came over nearer to striking him. He ducked as another bolt shot at him. If he stayed within the machine for too much longer, he - Danny froze, his breath catching in his throat. The doors refused to open, and they were the only exit from within the machine.

"Oh. Oh, this is ba - GAH!" A scream tore from his throat, and he hit the metal floor hard on his knees. He curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around his sides where the bolts had struck him. His body trembled as he sucked in shaky breaths. He clamped his eyes shut and tucked his head down, though he doubted it would save him from what was happening. He couldn't escape. All he could he do was hope he somehow survived.

It sounded like the fourth of July, the big finale with a thousand fireworks all exploding at once, and Danny's ears rang with the noise. Every crackle of electricity felt drawn to him, striking his body from all angles. Screams were ripped from him as if someone shoved their hand down his throat and tried to tear out his vocal cords, scratching sharp nails up his throat on the way out. Fire spread through his body, consuming him in a heat which made his skin feel like it would melt from his body and leave his ashes blowing away in the wind. Ice crept into his bone, freezing them straight down the marrow and making his joints ache at even the slightest movement, and despite his best effort to remain as still as possible, every shock of electricity made his body jerk until he collapsed onto his side and his body twitched in uncontrollable spasms.

Unconsciousness was a blessing, floating in darkness where he was numb to all the pain assaulting his body. But all too soon, it felt, the pain came back as he stirred. Danny gasped, his fingers twitching and clawing at the metal floor. His skin tingled everywhere, fire and ice mixing in a strange effect that left him shivering and sweating. His mouth and throat were badly parched, and he dimly wondered if this was what it felt like when someone ate about a dozen cotton balls. Or, in his case, he would likely have them rammed down his throat by Dash.

With some effort, he managed to tear open his eyes. Light filled the inside of the machine, the world appearing dull and gray to him. His brain couldn't process the fact at first, too much like mush to make any connections. The doors of the machine had opened while he was unconscious. Danny stared toward the opening. Just how long had he been unconscious? Minutes could have passed, or hours could have gone by.

His heart stopped as a thought stabbed through the haze of his brain. What would his parents say if they came home right then to find him collapsed on the floor of the machine? They would know he had sneaked into the laboratory! He knew it was a stupid thing to be concerned about at the moment. He had just survived massive electrocution, but he only cared about not letting his parents know he had gone against their orders and messed around in the laboratory.

Danny pushed himself up on trembling arms but immediately dropped back to the floor. He groaned, a whimper escaping him at the weakness he felt as everything in him cried out in pain. Slapping a hand onto the floor before him, he pulled with the minimal strength he had toward the exit of the machine. The tingling sensation of pins and needles danced around his legs. They felt weightless, and Danny's stomach churned at the idea that he didn't even _have_ legs anymore. Gulping, which had a sort of metallic taste, Danny dared to turn his head. The breath rushed out of him when he saw his legs laying limply behind him. At least he wouldn't have to figure out some sort of excuse to explain why he didn't have legs. Unless they no longer worked.

Dread settled over him, almost leaving him cold and breathless. Danny concentrated, his brow pinching together and his eyes squinting at his legs. Then his left leg gave a jerk. He sighed out, dropping his head to rest on the floor. Legs worked. Good. He turned his head to rest on the side and stared at the machine around him. It was dangerous. He saw no evidence of it opening a doorway into another dimension, specifically one where ghosts resided, but it was incredibly dangerous. He couldn't risk his parents trying something like what just happened to him. What if they didn't survive an accident like that? How did _he_ survive it? That much electricity striking his body all at once, he should be dead! He stared at the arm laying before his head. His skin was pale and smooth, hardly looking like he had gone through any sort of traumatic experience.

He lay there for some time, gathering up his strength before he dared trying to stand. When he got to his feet, his legs shook under him. He wobbled into the wall of the machine and leaned against it as he caught his breath. Exhaustion whispered to him and told him to simply lay back down and sleep for a month. But he couldn't stay in the laboratory, and he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep on the floor of the machine. He shuddered thinking about it. He took several trembling steps toward the exit of the machine, but he stopped before reaching it. He fumbled with the side of the machine, his fingers having difficulty grasping the edges of the panel. It popped open easily once he could get a hold on it, and he stared at the cylindrical container inside the panel. It was about the width and length of his forearm from elbow to wrist.

Originally, it was filled with almost all the ectoplasm his parents had managed to acquire. They still maintained a small sample to experiment with, though that would hardly fill the container halfway. But now the container barely had a few drop of the bright green substance inside it. The ectoplasm was the key to the machine working. Without the container full of ectoplasm, his parents would never get the machine operating. He pried the container out of the panel, awkwardly holding it to his chest with one arm. Then he slammed the panel shut, hoping his parents wouldn't check it if they tested the machine again.

Danny wobbled out of the machine, stumbling and nearly dropping the container when his foot caught on the wire. He looked down to see he had yanked it free from the extension cord, and a sigh escaped him. That saved him the struggle of having to bend down to unplug it. He wasn't sure at this point if he would be able to stand back up again if he crouched or knelt. When he reached the computer where he left his things, he checked the time and gasped. Half past nine. He was down here for _that_ long? His parents and sister had left around five, and he had only looked through the computer for about an hour or two, possibly three, which meant he was unconscious for at least an hour and a half.

After he cramped the container and his notebook into his bag, he shut down the computer. He had to get out of the laboratory and leave it like he found it to keep his parents from discovering his secret activities. He could imagine the lecture already about disobeying them and messing around with dangerous inventions like they were toys, and he cringed. When he finished, he tossed his bag over his shoulder, and the added weight made him stumble.

"Ugh, homework is going to have to wait," Danny groaned, glad tomorrow was Saturday. The climb up the stairs to the kitchen felt like hiking up a super steep mountain. The lights flipped off as soon as he reached the top of the stairs, and he kicked the door shut behind him, hearing the click of the lock. The time on the microwave read ten minutes to ten. He did his best to hurry up the stairs to his bedroom before his parents returned home from their meeting. He wanted to at least give the illusion he went upstairs to work on his homework like they had wanted. The front door opened as he reached his bedroom, and he ducked inside, carefully closing the door behind him so it didn't bang.

"We're home," his father called from downstairs.

"Uh, w-welcome back!" Danny called back, his throat still feeling raw from screaming. "I'm just doing some homework." He waited, listening, but his parents seemed satisfied with his lame response. After tossing his bag in the general direction of his desk, though it dropped about a foot from where he stood, he walked over to his bed and collapsed onto it. Sleep hit him at once, all the energy in him draining out in an instant.

* * *

**Kuronique Misaki**: Good guessing! XD

**The freedom girl**: Danny can't help it. XD Being a hero is in his nature. Not quite yet for Elle, but she will be showing up again! I do like Dash and Danny as a couple. XD

**midnight**: Well, Dash does enjoy watching romance dramas with his chihuahua. XD;;; Poor Danny has a bit of an inferiority complex.

**Tetractys**: XD Nah~ Not really a romantic development there. Just Dash giving Danny a few respect points. XD;;

**kirahphantom**: Dash being nice is pretty mind blowing, isn't it? XD;;; Who knows if Danny will tell them~? 8);;


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 09**

He twitched, his whole body jerking in a spasm. The pops of electricity dancing all around him, striking against metal and flesh, still rang deafeningly in his ears. He could still feel burning and freezing sensation battling inside him at each painful shock. His hair stood on end, and his skin tingled. His throat ran dry, and gasping for breath, Danny snapped out of his sleep, sweating and shivering. Around him was the machine that had excited his interested but now filled him with cold, paralyzing dread. He clamped his eyes shut, swallowing hard, trying to wet his parched throat and mouth.

When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on his bed in his room, the pale morning light streaming in through the part in the curtains on his windows. Danny collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving as the nightmare - No! The memories flashed through his head on a constant loop. His stomach churned, and he pushed down the bile threatening to rise up his throat.

"Orion's belt!" Danny croaked out, his voice hoarse, as he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. It was real. What happened last night was all real. Some part of him hoped he had imagined the whole thing. Maybe he could concede that his sister was right and spending all night playing video games was a bad idea. But no, it was real. Somehow he had survived being electrocuted within the machine his parents built. It didn't make any sense. He should be dead after something like that. He lifted his hands from his eyes and held them over his head. Nothing looked different about them. He turned them over, eyes scanning for any evidence of what happened, but his skin was the same smooth pale as always.

With a groan, he forced himself to climb out of bed. He still felt stiff and sluggish from the events of last night. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he shuffled toward the door of his room, nearly tripping over his bag. After nudging the bag aside with his foot, he reached out to grab the doorknob.

"Ow!" He yelped, jerking his hand back as a bolt of static arched between his fingers and the doorknob. The brief flash of green stopped his heart. The memories washed over him again, just as vividly as if he were experiencing the accident again. His body trembled, his legs feeling almost too weak to support him. His breath hitched and rattled in his chest as all he could manage to suck in was short gasps of air. Trying force himself to calm down, he brought his focus back to the present, his bug eyed stare still on his outstretched hand. His stomach gave a lurch and his head swam as he took in the sickly pale green, almost translucent, skin of his right hand. Jagged veins of darker green spider webbed out from various points on his hand and up his arms. There was a word for that. Jazz would probably know it, but Danny's mind couldn't grab at any words at the moment.

After a minute, or twenty, of panicking, the color finally faded back to the usual pale he was used to, leaving no sign of the scars. Danny blinked a few times, rubbed at his eyes, but his hand and arm looked normal again. What had happened to him in that accident?

He grabbed the doorknob, harder than he meant, and he felt the metal knob give slightly in his grip. Ignoring it, he jogged down the hall toward the bathroom then slammed the door once he was inside it. He didn't even care if the noise woke up the rest of his family. Scrambling over to the mirror, he stared at his reflection, expecting - He wasn't sure what he expected. Maybe some sign like with his hand earlier? But he only saw the same old Danny Fenton staring back at him. He reached up and raked a hand through his hair.

He froze. Something registering within the panic of his mind. He stared at his reflection, nothing unusual about it, but his right hand remained tangled in his raven locks. His right arm. The one he injured yesterday while at Axion Labs. The one that should be throbbing in agony right now when he had it lifted. He tugged off his shirt, his breath short and heart pounding. The shirt was tossed to the side, and he lifted up his right arm, examining his shoulder. No bruises were left there, like the mechanical arm hadn't grabbed hold of him and nearly ripped his arm out of its socket. He rolled his shoulder, waiting for the throb of pain, the scream of protest from his muscles, but there was nothing. His injury had healed!

Curious, he turned his back to the mirror, twisting his head to stare at his reflection over his shoulder. Then he peeled away the bandage Dash had slapped over the cut. He could still remember the maddening intensity of the itchy sensation the cut had caused last night. Now he felt nothing. He stared at the back of his neck, almost expecting to find no sign of injury after seeing his shoulder. But a small scar remained. It stood out whiter than his skin, but - He moved closer to the mirror, squinting at the small, jagged scar. It held a faint green coloring to it that he probably would have overlooked if what happened in his bedroom hadn't occurred. He could also see a few greenish veins stretching out from the scar like branches of lightning.

What should he do? Danny rubbed the scar absently as he considered his options. Should he tell someone? His parents would be disappointed in him for disobeying them, and Danny wasn't even sure he wanted to know what they would do after hearing about the whole accident. And he still didn't even understand what the accident had done to him! He couldn't tell Jazz because she would simply go straight to their parents with the information. He bit the inside of his cheek.

Hearing a knock on the bathroom door, Danny jumped, banging back into the sink. Or he would have banged into it, except instead, he found himself standing halfway through it. "Uh," Danny mumbled, struggling to shove down the panic building up in him, but his mind kept screaming a string of curses and he couldn't _think_. His body was shaking, and it was the same weird sickly faint green his hand had turned after the electrostatic shock from the doorknob. He twisted around to face the mirror.

"Oh sweet nebula," Danny muttered, eyes growing wide. His eyes were _glowing_ and _green_, and his hair was pure white! He raked a trembling hand through his hair and gulped down air as best he could.

"Danny," his sister called, pounding again upon the door. "Do you plan on spending all day in there? I would like to take a shower, you know."

"Uh, I'll be right out," Danny called, hoping his voice didn't sound as shaky as he felt. "Just give me a minute."

He stepped back away from the mirror, sliding easily out of the sink. But how to change back to normal? Before, in his bedroom, his hand had reverted back on its own. He took deep breaths to calm himself and his still racing heart. Maybe if he simply concentrated, he could do it. After some time, sweat beading upon his brow, his skin was back to its usual color. He blinked, and his eyes were blue again. Black crept back into his hair. With a sigh, he nearly sank to the ground, but another insistent knock on the door stopped him.

"Hold your horses. Geeze, Jazz!" Danny grumbled as he snatched up his shirt from the floor. He opened the bathroom door to find his sister waiting impatiently outside. "All yours," he told her, stepping aside with a sweeping bow.

"You're such a dork sometimes." Jazz rolled her eyes. As she passed him, she ruffled his hair then closed the door behind her.

Danny returned to his room, closing the door behind him. When he glanced at the inside knob, he frowned at the slight dent in the metal. What was happening to him? He needed to figure out some answers. Grabbing some clean clothes, Danny got dressed in a hurry, stumbling about as he yanked on his jeans and getting tangled up in his shirt before he straightened it out. He picked up his phone and hit the first number on his call list that wasn't family.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sam demanded groggily when she answered.

Danny glanced at the clock. "It's a quarter to nine."

"_On a Saturday_," Sam stressed, clearly not a morning person.

"Sorry, but this is important. I really need to talk to you and Tucker about something." Danny tugged on a hooded sweatshirt, his Casper High one with their mascot the raven on the back. "Um," he scratched a hand through his hair then slapped it down against his side, "can you just meet me at the usual place?"

"Is everything okay?" Sam sounded more awake now, concern entering her voice.

Danny frowned as he considered his answer. "I'm not sure. Just meet me there, okay?"

"Okay. Yeah, okay. I'll pick up Tucker and meet you there in, like, twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Sam." Danny smiled in relief as he grabbed his keys and wallet. "And sorry about bothering you so early in the morning."

"Don't worry about it. See you there."

"See you," Danny agreed then ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket. He hurried down the stairs, making a detour to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"You're up early," his mother said from the table where she was reading one section of the newspaper.

"Made plans with Tucker and Sam." Danny snagged an apple from the bowl on the counter. "I'll be back later."

"Don't ride that skateboard while you're eating!" his father called as Danny headed toward the front door. "And don't forget about your homework!"

"I won't," Danny shouted back. He grabbed his skateboard from where it rested against the hall wall near the door. As soon as he left the house, he put the skateboard on the ground and climbed on, pushing off away from the house. He munched on the apple as he leisurely made his way toward the usual meeting spot. It wasn't too far from his house, so he could get away with taking his time.

He reached the usual spot with plenty of time to spare, locating a trashcan in the corner of the front room in the abandoned house to throw away the core of his finished apple. The house was rather creepy, rundown and basically ready to be condemned. The city simply hadn't gotten around to caring enough about tearing it down and rebuilding something else on the lot of land. He remembered the first time he visited the house with Tucker and Sam on a dare when they were thirteen. Dash didn't think Danny would be brave enough to spend a night in the old house which creaked even in the gentlest of breezes. Danny guessed the fact he and his friends had not only stayed in the house but had a fun time playing stupid games the whole night was part of why some people thought they were freaks. No one else even wanted to set foot in the house, which made it a great place to meet and discuss things in private.

"I hope you have a good reason for dragging me out of bed so early on a Saturday," Tucker complained as he entered the front room. He reached up and covered a wide yawn with one hand, his usual red beret hanging slightly out of place on his head. Danny could see some of his friend's curly hair peeking out from under the beret. Tucker pretty much hated letting anyone see his hair, ever since one of the jocks had stolen his beret and showed off his shaggy locks to everyone at school. His face had turned almost as red as his beret before he managed to snatch it back and shove it back onto his head while everyone laughed.

"Yeah, you didn't sound good on the phone." Sam frowned at him in concern.

"Something," Danny sat on the creaky floor, his feet resting on his skateboard and absently sliding it back and forth, "weird happened." His friends joined him, sitting before him with their legs crossed and expectant looks on their faces. _No backing out now_, he realized. His friends would want answers, and they could be extremely persistent if he tried to avoid telling them the truth. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Okay. So here's the thing. You know my parents are scientists."

"Yeah," Tucker said, cocking an eyebrow. "And you never talk about anything they do."

"Or why the basement is such a big secret," Sam added, and she narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

"That's because technically, I'm not even supposed to know about what they work on down there," Danny argued defensively. "And anyway the rest of the science community basically laughs at their theories because they believe in ghosts and think ectoplasm could be a useful resource once they've been able to study it and experiment on all the stuff it can do." His friends merely stared at him, waiting for more, and Danny relaxed somewhat in relief, thankful they didn't start laughing at him. "Ectoplasm is this rare thing, so they don't have a lot to work with. That's when they came up with the idea of creating a machine that could punch a hole between dimensions because they believe there's this parallel world where ghosts live."

"Danny," Tucker said warily, the color draining slightly from his face, "are we going to have to worry about ghosts popping up and terrorizing us?"

Danny shrugged. "It didn't work." He frowned, turning his gaze away. "At least, when my parents tried it, it didn't work."

"Danny!" Sam punched him hard on the arm. "You did not start up that machine!"

"I just wanted to take a look!" Danny rubbed at his arm. "By the way, ow." He leaned back on his hands. "I've been tracking my parents' progress basically since day one on that project. You can't blame me for being a little curious." But from the glares he received, he guessed maybe they could. "I don't know what happened. It didn't go on when I plugged it in. Then I was looking at things, and," he hunched up his shoulders, "suddenly I was trapped inside."

"Trapped inside?" Tucker's eyebrows rose, halfway looking concerned while the other half looked terrified.

"What exactly happened?" Sam questioned, leaning forward as her elbows balanced on his knees.

"Well, there was lots of," Danny forced down a sick feeling as he remembered what happened in the chamber, "electrical sparks shooting off. Um, hitting me. And then I kind of passed out."

"What?" Sam shouted.

"Dude!" Tucker's eyes were so wide Danny could see the white all around his irises. "If - If you were hit with enough electricity, you should be dead!"

"I've realized that. Thank you," Danny responded drily. "But that's not even the weirdest part."

"I'm not sure I like where any of this is going," Tucker mumbled.

"I can't really tell you what happened or even really explain it." Danny scratched a hand through his hair, frustrated with his lack of understanding. "Somehow I survived, even though I probably should have been killed, burnt to a crisp, after all that electricity hitting me. But I lived. And now," he sucked in a shaky breath, "now I have - I don't know." He glanced hesitantly at his friends. "Abilities?" His brow knitted with worry.

"Like those superheroes in comics?" Tucker asked skeptically as he folded his arms. "I think I'm gonna need some proof of that."

Danny rolled his eyes, but he couldn't blame his friend. If Tucker or Sam were telling a similar story to him, he would want proof too. "It's not like I have any sort of control over it." He tugged on an ear as he frowned. "It's just sort of happened."

"Well, if you do have powers, you should figure out how to control them," Sam said, her expression serious, but her violet eyes held a spark of excitement. "You don't want to be going through a day at school and suddenly do whatever you do. You might as well start trying to control it now."

"You seem way too happy about this." Danny sighed, but he tried to concentrate. Nothing happened, and he could see his friends begin to think he was only telling a tall tale. "I swear this morning I actually, like, phased through the sink!" he told them earnestly, needing them to believe him. Because if they didn't believe him, if he couldn't prove he was speaking the truth, then he could only think he was losing his mind.

Then, as if answering his desperation, he sank through the floor with a startled yelp.

"Danny!" his friends shouted as they scrambled over and caught his flailing arms before he could fall all the way through the floor. They helped pull him back up and onto his feet.

"Holy motherboard! Your hair is white!" Tucker gawked at him with wide green eyes and mouth hanging open. "You really do have abilities!" He poked at Danny's cheek, clearly fascinated by the strange appearance of pale green skin and darker green veins. Frowning, Danny swatted at the hand.

"I do have to pose the question though." Sam's mouth pressed thin, and she looked like she might not actually want to ask. "Why didn't you go to your parents with this?" Thankfully, neither of his friends showed signs of being disgusted or afraid of how he appeared.

"I panicked!" Danny's heart still raced from the shock of falling through the floor, but he felt relieved at the same time. He wasn't crazy. The accident _had_ done something to him. He had powers, or at least, he was able to move through solid objects, though he had zero control over it at the moment. "And can you imagine the amount of trouble I'd be in if my parents knew I had been messing around with their research?"

"But on the other hand," Tucker cringed, "that accident could have killed you. And your parents sound like they're about the only people who would have any understanding about what happened to you."

"Yeah, great," Danny grumbled. "They can turn me into a lab rat or something."

"Okay. So we keep this to ourselves," Sam said, the excited gleam entering her eyes again, and Danny could only imagine how much she liked the idea of being a part of this secret. "We can test out if you have any other abilities and train you to control them."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "I kind of put a dent in my doorknob already."

"Intangibility _and_ super strength?" Tucker's eyes bugged behind his glasses.

"Definitely going to work on control then." Sam frowned, some thought passing through her head. "I don't want you to pat me on the back or something and send me flying down the hall at school."

Danny winced as he imagined that happening. "Yeah, okay. And we should definitely run some tests. Like a physical and blood work. That might provide some answers too."

"Well, my freaky friend," Tucker slapped a hand against Danny's back, "let's get started then."

* * *

**panfan87**: XD Well, the D was definitely male. And I usually don't cross over with the actual characters, so you can probably rule out Dudley Dursley. XD Poor Danny is probably having a heart attack right now. The injury definitely hasn't been forgotten.

**Kuronique Misaki**: He probably needs a better handle on them before he can really exploit them. XD;; It would be like he tries to sneak into the girls bathroom invisible and like chanting in his head "be invisible, be invisible, be invisible" but he's not and all the girls start screaming because they can see him. XD;;; He probably shouldn't do that.

**The freedom girl**: He'll become Phantom... eventually. Danny probably should learn not to talk to mysterious strangers over a video game. XD;;;

**DB-KT**: His weekend isn't starting so great either. XD So many questions! But yeah, Danny is still Phantom.

**Tetractys**: Danny should really learn not to poke at his parents' inventions. XD;; It was definitely a guy that Danny was playing against.

**midnight**: Poor Danny. He needs to be locked up so he can't get hurt anymore. XD;; I don't things are going to go very nicely for him. D:

**MsFrizzle**: I didn't have a logical reason for Sam and Tucker to be there. Sadly, they don't teach anything about ghosts and ectoplasm and the kind of work his parents do at school. XD If so, Danny would probably be acing those classes. I do think Danny is smart and could have done a lot better in school than what happened in the show if he hadn't been getting attacked by ghosts all the time. Aw thanks! =) I do so enjoy writing the domestic scenes.

**HawkeyeLover**: Danny needs to stop getting hurt! D: The mysterious D. 8) He'll come in again... eventually.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Danny yawned tiredly as he read over the question on his homework for the sixth time in a row. His mind kept wandering back to the events of the day. He had spent hours in the abandoned house with his friends, trying to get some sort of control over his newly discovered powers. They moved to the basement of the house, which probably wasn't the safest place if the house decided to come down on top of them, but they would avoid being seen, on the off chance someone decided to brave peeking into the house. It hadn't happened yet, but Danny felt a need to be cautious.

The training hadn't gone well at all. A flash of heat crept onto his cheeks as he remembered the embarrassing moments of running into walls when he tried to turn intangible. Tucker had a great laugh each time. He also had a rambling list of power ideas for him to test, but Danny could barely even get the intangibility to work on command. After a while, he had to stop. Simply trying to get the powers to work and being in that weird other form was exhausting, zapping out his energy fairly quickly. He was forced to sit and rest or risk passing out.

"We're here outside one of the facilities owned by the Manson family," announced one of the reporters on the television. Lance Powder, or something. Danny couldn't bother to remember the name when he usually only had the news on in the background while he did homework or studied. But the mention of Sam's family drew his attention, and he lifted his head to stare at the screen. "Let's see if the police have any information for us about the robbery."

Danny's elbow fell through the table, and he nearly banged his chin on it before he caught himself. He sat up straight, eyes darting around, but luckily he was alone in the front room for the moment. With a sigh, he relaxed, tension easing from his shoulders. He would have to be far more careful about not accidentally turning intangible when someone might catch him.

"Unfortunately," said the police officer who Lance Powder shoved a microphone in the face of, "the security cameras had their feeds cut prior to the robbery taking place, so we have no video of the culprit."

Danny recognized the man, even without the name being displayed at the bottom of the screen. Damon Gray was not only the well respected police chief but was also Valerie's father. Danny felt a little queasy thinking about returning to school on Monday. He escaped having to do anything for Valerie yesterday because of the field trip to Axion Labs, and he was still upset about missing out on all the space exploration stuff he would have seen. His hand rubbed at the back of his neck, tracing the jagged scar. Valerie would probably be expecting him to do something to embarrass the top A List women. Danny groaned, thinking about how Dash would be gunning for him if he did anything more to humiliate Paulina.

"Can you tell us what the burglar stole?" Lance questioned with a flip of his blond hair and a charming smile tossed to the camera. Danny rolled his eyes. He had never liked the reporter because Lance always seemed more interested in his appearance and looking good on television than the story he was supposed to be reporting. Lance just had that egotistical personality reminding Danny too much of the A List and rubbing him the wrong way.

"At this point in time, we are still assessing the situation and talking with the employees who were on duty during the time of the robbery," Police Chief Gray explained, not looking too pleased at having his work interrupted to deal with an obnoxious reporter. He turned his head away from the camera. "Sorry. It seems my men need me." He walked off without giving Lance a chance make any sort of response, leaving the reporter with no one to interview.

Lance laughed awkwardly after being abandoned. "Well, it seems the police chief wants to keep a tight lid on this incident." His expression suggested he thought Damon Gray was hiding something without needing to voice his opinion out loud. "I'll keep digging into this case and keep you posted on whatever I find out. This is Lance Thunder." He showed off another winning grin with his pearly white teeth flashing at the camera. "Back to you, Tiffany."

The television cut back to the newsroom where a perky auburn haired woman smiled at the camera. She launched into the next news story, and Danny lost interest in watching and turned his attention back to his homework.

"You were gone for most of the day," Jazz commented casually when she walked into the room a moment later. She came from the kitchen with a mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a thick book tucked under her other arm. Her homework was probably finished five minutes after they came home yesterday, and Danny felt an itch of irritation. The book she sat down with was her idea of reading for fun. Danny, meanwhile, enjoyed comic books and reading up on space.

"I was hanging out with my friends," Danny said, pondering over the question on his homework. Then he jotted down his answer, relief filling him when his hand didn't pass through the table or the pencil slip through his hand. "It is a Saturday. I'm allowed some downtime from homework."

"I'm just surprised you woke up so early." Jazz sipped at her coffee then leaned forward to set the mug down near him on the table. "Usually you're passed out until Saturday afternoon because you were up playing your games all night."

"I didn't play games all night," Danny grumbled, shoulders hunching forward. For once, it was true. He spent most of Friday night passed out after the accident in their parents' machine, but it was hardly restful sleep. "I worked on some homework then went to sleep. You know, you don't have to rush to get all your homework done at once."

"Ah, but see, if you did, you would have the entire weekend freed up." Jazz sat on the couch behind him, but Danny could practically feel her grin boring into the back of his head. "Then you wouldn't spend Sunday night rushing to finish everything due on Monday."

Danny sighed as he set down his pencil and turned around to stare at his sister. "If you're just going to lecture me, I'm gonna leave and finish my homework in my room."

"Don't be so pouty!" Jazz nudged him in the shoulder with a toe. "I only hound you about your homework because I know you can be smart when you actually apply yourself. I get worried when you slack off. I don't want you working some dead end job because you didn't put in enough effort during school."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know." He leaned against the table. "It's just we've done this conversation about a thousand times in the past. I do my homework. I get passing grades. You can relax on the whole worrying thing."

"Danny," Jazz reached up, drawing her long auburn hair back and tying it up in a ponytail, "if our roles were reversed and you were the older sibling, you would find that it's impossible to stop worrying about your younger sibling. It's just a fact of life." She tilted her head with a fond smile. "I worry because I care."

Danny groaned. "If you're going to be mushy and gross, I'm leaving."

Jazz rolled her aqua colored eyes with an amused smile as she poked at his shoulder with her foot. "Right. I forgot you get weird about mushy sibling stuff." She drew her legs up then opened her book. "Wouldn't you concentrate better with the TV off?"

"I could concentrate better without you talking in my ear." Danny made a face at his sister then turned his attention back to his homework.

He had a report to write, but he would need to get on his computer for that so he thought about completing it later, having already begun work on it. After he finished his physics, he still had a few more problems in math to do. At least he had the majority of his homework done. He nearly dropped his head to bang it on the table. He forgot Elle had called him yesterday to ask about having a tutoring session on the weekend until right now. The whole thing with the accident last night and discovering he could phase through solid objects had taken priority over tutoring. He pulled out his phone and made a note to remind himself to pay a visit to Elle tomorrow. It would look bad if he completely blew her off this weekend. Why would she want an unreliable loser like him being her tutor? He still couldn't answer why she would ask him in the first place.

"Actually," he said, closing his textbook, "I think I'll get that history report finished. That's going to take me the longest to get done, and the rest won't be all that hard to finish." He gathered up his things and stood.

"I hope you're not planning on doing things halfway." Jazz gave him a stern frown, her eyes like burning lasers of disapproval.

"How could I ever do things halfway with you constantly watching over my shoulder?" Danny teased then hopped away before his sister could kick him. "Ha, ha! You can't catch me!"

"One of these days, Gingerbread Man, you will meet your end, and it will be delicious."

"But that day is not today." Danny laughed as he left the front room, dodging the throw pillow Jazz tossed at him. He jogged up the stairs and headed down the hall to his bedroom. Dumping his bag by his desk and setting his books down, he flipped on his computer.

While the computer booted up, he walked over to his closet then yanked open the door. A full length mirror hung on the inside of the closet door, though Danny hardly used it. Now, though, he stared at his reflection. Boring, average Danny Fenton stared back at him, still dressed in his Casper High hooded sweatshirt and jeans. While at the abandoned house, he thought he might be getting the hang of summoning the shift in his appearance. It was about the only successful part of the day. With some concentration, the shift began, and he grew more accustomed to the odd sensation the more he pulled off the change.

"Oh man," Danny groaned, for the first taking notice of his clothes after shifting forms. His jeans had inverted from their usual blue to orange while his red hooded sweatshirt had turned green. He was surprised his friends hadn't laughed at him the entire time after seeing the awful color combination. Shaking his head, he focused on the rest of his appearance, now that he wasn't panicking. He stared dully at his face in the mirror. "I look like a freak," he muttered, pressing the fingers of his right hand against the mirror. He didn't even want to think of the insults Dash would sling at him if the jock could see him like this.

He didn't feel any different, and he wasn't sure if he should be concerned by that or not. Other than the strange appearance and intangibility, the accident didn't seem to have done anything else to him. He supposed he should consider himself lucky, but worry kept gnawing at the back of his mind. What if he had some sort of radiation poisoning slowly killing him without his knowing? The thought turned his stomach, and he thought his skin actually looked slightly greener.

He wanted to run some tests to see what the accident did to his body, but hanging out in the basement of an abandoned house, they didn't have any of the required equipment needed to run things like blood work and check on his vitals. Sam thought she might be able to sneak out some of the medical equipment from one of her parents' facilities. Danny froze as he recalled her mentioning that. The news report flashed through his mind again. Sam wouldn't stage a robbery of her own parents' facility, would she? Sam did like to rebel against her parents, but Danny couldn't imagine her going that far.

Reverting back to normal, Danny pulled out his phone as he walked over to his desk. After he hit Sam's number in his contacts, he pulled up the file with his history report. He would rather have a hundred English essays to write. The phone rang twice before Sam picked up.

"What's up now?" Sam questioned. "Discovered something about your, uh, condition?" Curiosity drove out any annoyance in her voice at the late night call.

"Ah, no, but," Danny leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his neck, "I saw this news report about a robbery at one of your parents' facilities."

"Oh," Sam responded less enthusiastically, and Danny could practically see her face with annoyance in her violet eyes and her lips pursed tightly. "My parents have been complaining all night about it, demanding answers from the police and why they haven't found the culprit yet and trying to figure out what was stolen."

"So you didn't do anything?" Danny cringed right after he asked the question, waiting on his friend to scream at him.

"Danny," Sam's dry voice made him swallow nervously, "do you honestly think I would do something like that?"

"W-Well, you did mention you thought you could get some stuff from your parents so we could try running some tests on me." Danny still thought using the equipment in his parents' laboratory was their best bet, but it would require them to wait for the perfect opportunity to sneak down there when his parents and sister weren't around to catch them.

"If I was going to take stuff from my parents, trust me," Sam's voice held a hint of a smirk, "they would never know about it. I definitely wouldn't pull a stupid stunt like that. Way too obvious. It's better to do things subtly so my parents will be completely oblivious to the fact that anything was taken."

"Ah." Danny felt even sillier for thinking Sam would have done it. "So do you have any idea what the burglar took?"

Sam sighed. "No. And if my parents have any idea, they haven't mentioned anything. The facility worked on a lot of different things that a robber might be interested in taking. Maybe the thief was looking for drugs. We had a lot of different stuff at that facility. Some of it isn't exactly stable either. If the person is planning on selling any of it, well, that could lead to lots of problems."

Danny gulped with an unsettled feeling, not liking the sound of that. "Well, I'm sure the police will find out who did it and have them arrested."

Hopefully before any unstable drugs made it to the general public, assuming the burglar stole drugs and not something else. The burglar could have just as easily stolen something else equally dangerous from the facility since, as Sam mentioned, the facility possessed many other things that could be sold for a fair price on the black market.

"I guess I better let you go now," Danny said, sighing internally at the thought of finishing his history report. "Boring homework to do and all." After they said their goodbyes, Danny placed his phone aside then cracked his knuckles before setting his mind on his history report.

* * *

**Tetractys**: 8D I thought it would be a fun idea, since Lancer swears in book titles and Vlad swears in pastries/baked goods. XD I liked the idea of Danny have those Lichtenberg scars in his ghost form. Give him more of that ghostly appearance. XD;;

**The freedom girl**: *celebrates* Took me a while to get to the accident. orz I guess you'll have to wait to find out the answer to that. Let's just hope Danny doesn't accidentally reveal himself before he learns to control his powers. XD;;

**panfan87**: That's was a lot of the inspiration! XD Since Danny Phantom already has _a lot_ of similarities. I know. XD I was joking back. Well, if Tuck still has the hospital phobia, probably not from him. XD But Sam's parents (yeah, I'm changing it from canon) own some medical facilities, so they probably have the equipment. Though Danny's parents would be better for ecto-related stuff.

**midnight**: That's always good to know. XD He better get a handle on those powers, especially the super strength. He can't go around busting all the doorknobs. XD

**ECTOglo**: Who knows? Maybe sometime in the future, Danny will let his parents in on the secret. Right now, he's just a little freaked out about the whole thing.

**Kitsu Maxwell**: I apologize for my writing letting you down. I hope I won't do the same with this story. Though if you see me straying toward disappointing you or letting a subplot slide to the wayside to be forgotten, you're free to let me know! Sometimes, I get a lot of thoughts for things to include in a story, and I try to do it all, and I guess sometimes I just fail and let one plot slide in favor of focusing on another. orz I wish they had Danny cursing in space terms in the show! 8D It's so fitting for him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Danny checked the directions on his phone as he skated down the street, weaving through the people milling around on a Sunday afternoon. He had slept in, by accident since he failed to hear his alarm go off, but another nightmare ended up waking him. His body had sank halfway through the bed at some point during the night, making him glad he slept with the door shut. The idea of needing to learn control over his powers felt all the more important when he imagined accidentally turning intangible in front of someone and dropping halfway through the floor.

The map on his phone showed he had reached his destination, and Danny put his foot down on the ground to stop his skateboard. Lifting his gaze from his phone, he tugged out an ear bud as he stared at the building before him. His phone slipped from his hand, and he fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground. His parents wouldn't be pleased if he broke his phone. Sam's family was among the wealthiest families in Amity Park, and Danny had grown used to seeing her mansion of a house after multiple visits. Elle's house looked more like a castle. Just who was Elle anyway? Since she attended the benefit, Danny knew her family was wealthy, but the large home made of white stone held such a regal impression. Was that a turret? He could imagine a princess trapped up there, like Rapunzel waiting to let down her long hair. His gaze darted around like he expected a dragon to come charging out and eat him before he could approach the front door.

Danny stuffed his phone and ear buds into his pockets then bent over to pick up his skateboard. A bad feeling settled over him as he passed through the front gates and walked down the long drive to the front door. Elle could probably afford the top tutors in every field of study. Why she want him to teach her? Maybe he should have convinced Jazz to come along with him so she could take over when he completely failed.

With a sigh, Danny raked his hand through his hair, trying to get the unruly raven locks into some semblance of order. After he rang the doorbell, he shoved his hands into his pockets with his skateboard tucked under one arm and waited. The minutes ticked by, and Danny thought he probably should have called ahead of time after all. Then the door opened. A short woman in a well fitted pantsuit greeted him with a flat expression. She had dark eyes behind her thick glasses, and they glared at Danny like he was a speck of unwanted dirt upon a floor she had just spent an hour waxing.

"Um," Danny said and gulped, his throat feeling much too dry, "I'm here to see Elle. She, uh," he shifted his weight nervously, "told me to drop by anytime over the weekend."

Her gaze flicked over him, and Danny had that same feeling every time Harold turned his nose up at him. Then she stepped aside, holding the door open for him. "I warn you now," she said with a slight narrowing of her eyes, "steal anything from this house and you will regret it."

Did he really give off some sort of thief vibe? Or did the rich just always assume the poor were looking for opportunities to steal from them? "I'm not going to take anything."

The woman didn't seem to believe him. She turned on her heel with a humph and began walking toward the stairs with the instruction, "Follow me."

Danny's eyebrows lifted as he noted the front hall of the house. The carpet leading up the stairs was a dark green with golden trim. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. When he glanced to the sides, he saw glass display cases mounted onto the walls. The cases held pennant banners of green and gold, jerseys, posters of teams, and even a football that looked like it might be signed.

_Ah_, Danny thought with a nod of understanding. _A Packers fan_. Danny could imagine his father getting along with whomever owned all that paraphernalia since his father was also a big Packers fan.

The woman led him up the stairs and down a hall, and the house seemed to have more rooms than anyone could possibly need unless the family had about a hundred live in servants. As they neared the end of the hall, the loud beat of a bass boomed from behind one of the doors. The woman sighed in exasperation, probably not for the first time dealing with the obnoxious noise. She stopped in front of the door and knocked sharply three times. The music shut off after a moment. Then Danny heard a rustle before the door was yanked open.

With a scowl on her face, Elle appeared, looking somewhat disheveled with her ebony hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. A spaghetti strap on her white top slipped down one shoulder, and the black leggings she wore looked like something she might work out in and perhaps that was exactly what she was doing before he interrupted her. Her eyes lit up immediately when she spotted Danny standing behind the woman, and a smile stretched across her face.

"You came! I was beginning to think maybe this weekend wasn't a good time for you after all," Elle said as she opened the door wider, revealing more of her room. While the rest of the house was clean and orderly, Elle's room looked like it was struck by a tornado. Clothes littered the floor and bed, which was a complete mess. Books and magazines were tossed about with no order. His parents would never let him leave the house if he left his room in such a state.

"Something came up yesterday," Danny explained with a shrug of one shoulder. "But today was clear."

"Great!" Elle grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him into her room. "I'm in desperate need of some help. Thanks for bringing him up, Carmina."

"Ah, but Miss-" Carmina's protest was cut off when Elle closed the door on her.

"Servants aren't allowed to come in without my permission," Elle explained with a bright smile as she strolled over then dropped onto the foot of her bed. Her king sized, four poster bed. "So she can't come in here and bother us."

Danny lifted an eyebrow as he moved farther into the room. "And that's not going to be any problem with your parents? Having an older man, alone, in your room?"

Elle shrugged, kicking her feet lightly. "I can deal with my father. And anyway," she sent him a cheeky smirk, "you're not exactly my type."

Danny's mouth pursed slightly, feeling mildly insulted by her comment. Though he couldn't say she was exactly his type either, it still stung to have it stated so bluntly. "So where do you want to start?" His gaze drifted around the room, taking in the full extent of the messiness. It could have looked like the room of a princess with the delicately crafted white vanity and fancy molding on the ceiling if it weren't for everything thrown about haphazardly. Elle had tons of music posters slapped upon the wall in a chaotic mess, some hanging at odd angles and covering each other. He spotted a Dumpty Humpty poster, like the one hanging on the wall in his own room.

One poster stuck out to him, and he thought it must be the newest one to her collection because it was on top of a bunch of other posters. It showed a woman with alabaster skin posing with a purple guitar. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and the bright blue of it matched with the flames decorating her guitar. Dark makeup lined her green eyes with black lines curling down from the corners of her eyes.

Elle must have followed his gaze because she said, "Oh, you like it? That's Ember. She has about one more strike before the principal gets fed up and expels her from our school. She has a band that's been trying to hit it big. Sometimes we jam together."

"Jam together?" Danny repeated, blinking in surprise at Elle.

"Yeah!" Elle wore a big grin, but it twisted into an unpleasant expression. "My dad wants me to take over his company one day." She made a gagging motion, opening her mouth and sticking a finger into it. "No thanks!" She hopped onto her bed and struck a pose. One arms shot into the air reaching for the ceiling. Her other hand curled like she held some invisible object, and she lifted it close to her mouth. "I wanna rock! Have a sea of people out before me, cheering me on as I sing." She sighed as she dropped her hand, her body seeming to deflate. "But my dad thinks it's too unstable a career path and I should think about something more stable and secure."

Danny could understand the disappointment of having people tell him he should consider a different job than the one he had dreamed about since he was little. For as long as he could remember, becoming an astronaut was all he ever wanted. He went to space camp, he read up on everything he could find about space exploration, but with such a small chance of actually being chosen to become an astronaut, his dream seemed virtually impossible to achieve. It hurt like a knife digging into his heart. It was worse than the feeling of being zapped a million times by bolts of electricity to have a dream constantly out of his reach.

"Well, your dad doesn't know everything," Danny said with a shrug. "Maybe you will make it big. Five years from now, I could be buying your album and telling everyone around me that I met you before you became famous."

"Maybe I should give you my autograph now then," Elle said with a laugh as she jumped down from the bed. "First autograph. That's gotta sell big."

"Who said I would sell it?" Danny smirked. "But on the off chance things don't work out, wouldn't it be good to have a backup career in mind?"

"And I suppose you have a backup career in mind for yourself?"

"Actually, I-" Danny groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm sounding like my sister. How did that happen? I'm not supposed to be the one talking about responsibility and preparing for the future."

Elle patted him on the back, but the comfort was ruined by her laughing. "Okay. We should get started. I was thinking, thirty dollars an hour would be a fair payment."

Danny's mouth dropped open, but he stopped himself from complaining. He had the feeling this tutoring arrangement wouldn't last for long, and if her house looked like a castle, thirty dollars an hour probably seemed like chump change to her. "If you think that's an appropriate amount." He tried to keep from sounding overly excited about the money.

"Great! Then if that's decided, let's get to work." Elle grabbed her books and tablet then dropped onto the floor, spreading them around her. Her desk was completely covered with magazines and CDs, hardly the best place for her to try to get some studying done. The floor, at least, had some open space where they could work without being crowded by the mess in the room.

Danny didn't mind the floor, sitting down across from Elle as she opened one thick textbook to her homework. He looked over the different units she was working on in her various classes. Business wasn't something he knew a lot about, the same holding true for economics. While he got shoved into physics, not his favorite, he knew chemistry far better, and the units Elle was studying were ones he knew quite a bit about already. Computer science, though Tucker was a lot better at it, and engineering were right up his alley. He even spotted an astrophysics book buried among the rest and lifted his eyebrow at it.

"You take all of these?" Danny's mind boggled at the idea of taking all those classes at once.

"My dad is very insistent that I learn everything I need to know so I can take over the business when I'm older." Elle sighed tiredly with misery written clearly on her face. She didn't want to take any of these classes or even run her father's company in the future. Danny's parents encouraged him to pursue whatever career he wanted, one that would make him happy. He couldn't imagine the pressure of being forced into a career he would hate.

They talked about some stuff while Danny tried to help her understand everything for her homework. Elle showed interest when he talked about space, but Danny managed to stop himself with heat creeping onto his cheeks when he realized he was rambling. Then he considered the idea that Elle wasn't interested in space at all but thought getting him to talk about it would distract him from the tutoring. After that, he paid more attention to keep the conversation from being sidetracked away from Elle's assignments for school.

When he heard a loud growl, Danny flushed darkly with embarrassment. "Ah," he tried to think of something to say while Elle bit her lip to hold back a snicker.

"Come on." Elle stood, grabbing hold of his hands to drag Danny to his feet. "I think I can convince Sasha to fix us a snack, but we'll have to eat downstairs." Her expression turned rather serious as she said, "No food upstairs. None. Zilch. Nada. You take food upstairs and I'll take my wooden spoon to that derriere of yours."

Danny chuckled at her impersonation, and Elle grinned impishly, like she broke that rule more than once in the past. He picked up the tablet then followed her out of the room. As they walked down to the kitchen, he flipped through Elle's work on the tablet, going over the homework she had done under his tutoring.

"Hm, you've miscalculated the answer on this one," Danny said, pointing out the answer he meant on the tablet as he showed it to her.

Elle groaned. "Equations!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't understand how you speed through them like they're nothing. I have to spend about an hour on each one."

"The speed doesn't matter." Danny shook his head as they walked into the kitchen from where a delicious aroma wafted. "If you rush, you're more likely to make mistakes. It's more important to take your time and work through it carefully." He laughed to himself, rubbing his forehead. He couldn't believe he was sounding so much like Jazz.

"But it's just so long and boring." Elle sighed dramatically then her attention shifted to the woman working at the stove. "Sasha!" She skipped over and hugged the short, stout cook.

Sasha turned her head, giving Elle a firm stare. "You want something."

"Just some snacks." Elle smiled innocently. "All this studying sure works up an appetite."

Sasha's mouth stretched into a wide, flat line across her frog like face. "Go sit in the front room. I'll bring something out in a few minutes."

"We can continue working on your homework." Danny grinned, holding up the tablet with a little wave.

"I regret asking you to be my tutor already." Elle scowled at him, but it didn't hold any venom. She was joking, but Danny knew she didn't enjoy hours of homework anymore than he did.

They left the kitchen and entered the front room off to the right of the hall. Danny almost feared sitting down on the nice white couch because seeing the fancy furniture looking like it could have come straight from a royal castle made him feel like he was covered in dirt and grime and unworthy to even glance at it, let alone touch it. He couldn't imagine growing up in a place like this where there were so much expensive furniture and breakable antiques. He sat down gingerly on the couch and handed the tablet over to Elle.

A few minutes later, Sasha entered the room with a platter of finger sandwiches cut into perfect little triangles with the crust cut off. Danny reached out and picked one up after the cook had left the room. It had some sort of creamy paste spread between the two slices of bread, and he couldn't quite pick out the flavoring but found it delicious anyway.

"Is that right?" Elle's brow creased thickly in concentration as she turned around the tablet to show Danny her work.

Danny took the tablet to look over her work. With his focus on the equations, he missed hearing the creak of the front door opening. Or the footsteps in the front hall until someone cleared their throat. He lifted his gaze to the doorway, and the tablet nearly fell from his grasp. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at the man in his fancy suit with his silvery hair tied neatly back in a ponytail.

"Snacking when we're about to have dinner?" The man frowned in disapproval, and it took Danny a moment to realize the man was actually talking to Elle and not him. Danny snapped his head around toward Elle, who was staring down at the half eaten sandwich in her hand. The look on her face said another pound of disappointing her father was thrown onto her shoulders.

"It was just a snack," Elle mumbled. "We were studying since one. We got hungry."

"Studying?" repeated the man, sounding like he didn't quite believe it. Then his gaze turned onto Danny, who sat up straighter under the scrutinizing blue eyes. "And you are?"

Danny swallowed, forcing down the lump in his throat. He almost forgot his name after realizing he was in the home of _the_ Vlad Masters, president of Axion Labs. As Mr. Masters lifted his eyebrows, Danny realized he was looking ridiculous in front possibly the richest man in Amity Park, next to Sam's parents. They were sort of neck and neck on being richest.

"Danny," he finally managed to say in a voice that didn't completely crack like he was still going through puberty. "Danny Fenton."

Mr. Masters' brow creased slightly before a smile cut across his face. "Will you be staying for dinner, Daniel?"

Danny resisted the urge to shudder. He hated when people called him Daniel. It always gave him the feeling of being in trouble. "Ah, no, Sir. I should probably be heading home soon."

"Are you certain? We have plenty of room, and it wouldn't be hard for our chef to prepare an extra plate."

It was really tempting to stay. Why wouldn't he want to share a meal with _Vlad Masters_? It would give him the chance to pick the man's brain! He could ask about the space exploration projects he missed out on seeing because the tour of Axion Labs was cut short for him. "Well-"

"Dad, don't be embarrassing!" Elle complained, her cheeks turning rosy pink. "He's probably expected at home to have dinner with his family."

Mr. Masters frowned at his daughter, and Danny suffered another moment of utter disbelief. The news never mentioned much about the billionaire having a daughter, but perhaps Mr. Masters liked to keep that information quiet for the sake of keeping his daughter out of the media spotlight. Danny could understand why Mr. Masters would want to do that. It couldn't be easy for Elle being the daughter of such a famous billionaire. Sam had tried to keep her family's fortune secret from him and Tucker when they were younger, but it was impossible to hide her family's identity from them forever.

"I'm sorry." Mr. Masters didn't sound sorry at all. "Have I interrupted something? Am I ruining your date?"

"It's not a date!" Elle argued, and her cheeks darkened. Danny could feel his own face warm with a blush. "He's my tutor! I met him at that benefit the Mansons held. Since he was so good at solving the equations, I thought he would be a good teacher."

Mr. Masters turned his gaze onto Danny, and one eyebrow arched upward curiously. "Oh? And has he taught you anything? I would hate to waste money on another tutor only to see your grades haven't improved at all."

"Ugh! Dad!" Elle puffed out her cheeks like a child pouting when she didn't get her way. "Yes! He's helped me a lot. I actually feel like I understood half of what he said. Unlike the others who were better off talking Greek since I couldn't stand _anything_ they said."

"Uh, maybe I should just," Danny interrupted awkwardly, "go now. It's getting pretty late after all. My parents would want me home before dinner."

"Ah, yes." Mr. Masters nodded. "We shouldn't keep you then. How much do we owe for taking up your time?"

"Well, we agree to thirty dollars an hour, and we started around one." Danny glanced at his watch. "So for five hours, that would be a hundred and fifty dollars."

Mr. Masters pulled the money out of his wallet and handed it over to Danny, who almost couldn't believe the man carried so much money on him.

"I'll text you about our next tutoring session," Elle said, walking him toward the door. Danny didn't miss that her father remained standing the hall, watching them with his sharp dark blue eyes.

"Okay," Danny said with a jerky nod as he stepped out onto the front step. "I'll see you later then." Elle nodded agreement, and they waved before Danny turned down the long drive to the front gate. He dropped his gaze to the money in his hand as he walked. Maybe he would be able to pay for that dry cleaning bill after all. He frowned. But would Valerie try to milk more out of him if he simply paid her off? With a tired sigh, he stuffed the money into his pocket.

* * *

**kirahphantom**: I need to buckle down and get more writing done! XD;; I feel like I've gotten rather sluggish in writing each day.

**Tetractys**: I'm having lots of fun writing them together. XD

**midnight**: Poor Danny. XD He really needs to get a hang of his powers. And learn how to change his appearance when he's Phantom. XD;;

**The freedom girl**: Well, there will be plenty of people for Danny to fight in the future. XD;; There should have been more sibling fluff in the series~


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Where were you yesterday?" Sam questioned as they walked through the school hall toward their lockers. Immediately after Danny got out of his sister's car, his friends swooped in, grabbing hold of his arms and dragging him away to talk in private. Jazz gave them a confused but concerned look as she watched them leave.

"I made plans to do that tutoring thing over the weekend," Danny explained and spun the combination lock in the right order to open his locker. "Elle called me on Friday saying she was free and to come over sometime to start having tutoring sessions. Since Saturday," he stared pointedly at his friends, "obviously had reasons for why that couldn't work. I went over to her place yesterday."

"Wait. Wait." Tucker held up his hands. "Who is this Elle? And why haven't I met her?"

"Because she doesn't need you hitting on her," Sam commented offhandedly.

"Hey!" Tucker protested, gasping with a hurt expression on his face. "I don't hit on _every_ woman I see." He frowned when Danny and Sam exchanged glances. "Okay. Maybe I do. But one of these days, the ladies are going to be all over the Tuck man." He grinned as he leaned back against the lockers, trying to look cool.

Danny rolled his eyes as he stuffed a book into his bag. "You could have met Elle if you went to the benefit with us." He gave Tucker a falsely sympathetic look. "Oh, but you had your robotics club to attend." He laughed when Tucker punched his shoulder. "Is your entry of the contest finished?"

"We're almost there. Still a few more kinks to work out." Exhaustion swept across Tucker's face, like the long days working on their robot was taking its toll upon him. But he looked happy, like all the hard work would be worth it in the end.

"Oh, hey!" Danny remembered something now that the topic of robots was brought up. After everything that happened to him on Friday and the training on Saturday, some parts of the field trip had slipped his mind. "I saw your robotics teacher at Axion Labs."

"Mr. Technus?" Tucker blinked then shrugged. "Yeah, he does some contract work with them. He's among the top geniuses when it comes to robotics, even if he decided to become a science teacher. Why, I'll never understand. Being a teacher doesn't earn him a big income. Definitely not as much as he would get actually working for Axion Labs. But he's only allowed to offer us advice with our contest entry. No developing any of the robot plans for him. He has some free periods on Friday, so he sometimes heads over to Axion Labs to offer them some help on projects."

Robot talk hardly interested Sam, but her violet eyes darted around the crowded hall like they were talking about plans for world domination. Then she leaned in close to whisper to her friends. "When do you think your parents will be out so we can sneak into the lab and run some tests?"

Danny closed his locker and scratched behind one ear. "I don't know," he admitted with a frown. "My parents sometime go out to meetings, which would give us a few hours to work with if we can get Jazz to leave the house. But it's not like they do that every night. I'll give you a call when the house is free."

"You know, I was thinking," Tucker said as they left their lockers behind after getting what they needed. "The usual spot probably isn't the best place to, you know." He glanced around cautiously. Too many students meandered around the hall waiting for classes to start, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention. "Maybe we should find some place a little more comfortable, and you know, has snacks."

"I'm going to agree with that simply because last time was exhausting and the drain really made me hungry," Danny said. They would need someplace where he could test out his abilities and learn control in private without risk of being discovered. Though the abandoned house gave them privacy, it was lacking in basically everything else like food and comfortable places to sit and relax. And most importantly, it had no heating, which wouldn't be fun for any of them once the wintery weather fully hit Amity Park. So the question was: Where could they go instead of the abandoned house?

Sam's mouth pursed thoughtfully. "My parents do own quite a few places around town. Some are just used for storage. We could probably use one of those every once and a while. I'm sure I could convince some of the guards to let us hang out there."

"And they won't ask questions?" Danny raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Sam shrugged, not seeming concerned by the question. "We could tell them we need the space to work on a project of some sort. They probably won't ask too many questions if I'm the one asking. After all, I am the daughter of their boss."

"You know," Tucker frowned, "you can be kind of scary." Sam merely shrugged off the comment.

"Speaking of your parents though, did they find out anything about the robbery?" Danny had put his focus into tutoring Elle yesterday, but now the topic of the robbery forced its way back to the front of his mind.

Sam shook her head. "My parents still won't tell me anything about what happened. Or if they've even figured out what was stolen. But they're really angry about it. They think the police aren't working hard enough since the thief hasn't been found yet." The first bell of the day rang before they could say anything more.

After they parted ways, Danny headed toward his first period class. Remembering the last time he saw the jock, he felt a mixture of dread and confusion as he entered the room. Dash actually being nice to him was still a strange experience, yet Danny wished Dash could put aside whatever made the jock hate him because not getting bullied was a nice change. But as Danny expected, Dash made a move to harass him the moment he got close to the jock. A chill tingled down his spine, and Danny managed to sidestep before the stuck out foot could trip him. They stared at each other for several long moments, both of them surprised.

"Uh," Danny laughed weakly, "still trying the same old moves? Maybe you should try something a little more original."

Dash narrowed his eyes as he got up from his desk. He stood taller than Danny with a much broader frame, and Danny shrank back a little under the glower. "Trying to be the funny guy now?" The jock jabbed a finger into Danny's chest, and a murmured followed as the other students in the classroom took notice of them. "Because," Dash grabbed hold of the front of Danny's hooded sweatshirt, "I don't like funny guys." His eyes flicked toward the shoulder Danny injured on Friday, like he was trying to subtly, silently ask if it was okay.

Danny gave the tiniest jerk of his head, a nod to say his shoulder was fine. It was an odd little exchange that the rest of the class probably missed. Danny could almost sense this subtle shift in their relationship. Dash still saw him as a loser who deserved to be bullied, but Danny thought there was this sort of underlying respect.

"Mr. Baxter, Mr. Fenton, is there a problem?" Mr. Green questioned, the severity in his voice making the two students immediately back away from each other.

"No, Sir," Dash replied quickly as he took his seat again.

"Good." Mr. Green glared coldly at them. "I would hate to have Coach Slater bench you at the big game because you had detention."

When Dash shot him and glare, Danny sighed inwardly. "No, Mr. Green," he said, sliding into his seat next to Dash. "We were just talking. About homework." He didn't think the teacher believed him, but Mr. Green decided to put it aside for the time being and begin class.

Dash didn't harass him for the rest of the period, perhaps because of the threat of detention hanging over him. Danny had little hope that Dash was cutting him some slack just because of what happened on the field trip, or that it would last. But he was still thankful when class ended and he could escape the scowling glare of their teacher. Mr. Green, for whatever reason, seemed to hate all of his students, though his wrath was usually focused on Dash and Danny.

When he walked the hall between classes, Danny caught Valerie's eye and dread settled over him. Her green eyes seemed to be saying, "If you don't do what I want, I'll make your life hell." But with such little time between classes and a sea of students between them, Valerie couldn't get close enough to him to do anything to him. Danny wasn't so lucky by the time lunch rolled around and found Valerie waiting for him. She grabbed him and pulled down a hall until they were well away and out of sight from the crowd of students heading toward the cafeteria.

"The water thing was cute," Valerie said, folding her arms and looking clearly unimpressed. "But hardly worthy enough to do any real damage to Paulina's reputation. And I guess I can't blame you for not doing anything Friday since you had that stupid field trip. The question now is: what are you going to do today? It better be something good."

"You know what, Valerie?" Danny shoved his hand into his pocket to grab his wallet. "I'm not doing this. I lose no matter what I do. I do what you want, and Dash will kill me. I don't do what you want, and you make my life miserable. Nothing good comes out of this." He pulled out the money he received yesterday for his time tutoring Elle. "It's not the full amount, but if you give me some time, I can make the money to pay off the dry cleaning bill. That's all I owe you for, so after that, I'm done." He thrust the money at her.

Valerie took the money from his hand, examining it was a critical eye almost like she expected it was fake. "You didn't rob a store or something for this, did you?"

"No!" Danny snapped, offended by the suggestion as he glared. "I _earned_ it." He doubted Valerie ever had to earn a cent in her life, not when she had daddy to buy everything for her. And occasionally bullying money out of losers.

Valerie frowned for a moment longer at the money then shoved it into her pocket. "But speaking of robberies," she said, her eyes turning cruel, and she stabbed her finger into his chest, "tell your girlfriend to get her parents off my dad's back. He can't do his job with them breathing down his neck. He's the _police chief_. He has more to do than deal with a bunch of whiny rich babies."

"Hey! Whoa!" Danny held up his hands. "Sam is _not_ my girlfriend. We're just friends." It was tiring to repeat that comment over and over again. "And what exactly do you expect to happen if I did ask that of Sam? Her parents aren't going listen to her about anything when it comes to their company."

"Well, figure some-"

"There you are, Val!" Coming down the hall like a cheerful Labrador bounding over to meet his owner, Kwan wore his usual friendly grin. "Paulina was looking for you. Something about wanting to go over things for Friday's pep rally."

"I forgot about that." Valerie huffed, annoyance flashing in her eyes. "I expect the rest of it later, Fenton." After she gave him one last chilly glare, she turned and walked down the hall.

Kwan watched her leave then glanced at Danny with a lift of one eyebrow. "What was all that about?"

Danny released a shaky laugh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You are like some freaky angry A List whisperer, you know that? Whenever any of them start harassing anyone, you can pretty much say just one word, and they back down."

Kwan frowned, his aqua green eyes turned away. "But really," he said after a beat of silence, "what did Valerie want from you?"

Danny shrugged as he strolled down the hall, and Kwan followed, easily keeping in step with him. "I ruined her dress at the benefit last week." Even though he was a jock, Kwan just seemed to radiate this aura that made a person want to confide in him. Danny felt more at ease telling the story to Kwan than to Dash. "So she gave me the choice: either I help her rise to the top of the social pyramid by humiliating the top tier of A List girls or I pay her dry cleaning bill."

"Ah." Kwan nodded. "That explains the water show on Thursday." When he glanced at Danny, Kwan's expression was sympathetic. "Things haven't always been easy for Val. No, I'm serious," he added after catching the look of disbelief from Danny. "Val and I have been friends since forever. Longer than I've been friends with Dash. But we haven't always been in the popular crowd. We didn't get accepted until Dash decided we were cool enough to hang out with." For a moment, he looked like he might say more, but he merely shook his head instead. "My point is we only got in the A List because of Dash, and it's only because of him that we haven't been kicked out yet."

Danny snorted. "Are you trying to say Dash actually has a heart and cares about people?"

With a severe frown, Kwan halted, grabbing hold of Danny's arm to make him stop too. "Dash doesn't like to show it to people who aren't close to him, but he does have a good heart."

Danny frowned, shifting uncomfortably. He remembered how Dash acted after things went crazy in Axion Labs. His hand reached around to the back of his neck, fingers brushing over the scar that remained there. Dash could have acted like a complete jerk and ignored Danny's injury. Instead, the jock had cleaned up the cut and bandaged it. He even showed the slightest hint of concern today in class while not drawing any attention to it. Maybe Dash _did_ have something under all that tough exterior, and for whatever reason, he decided to show Danny a peek of it.

"He sure likes to keep it hidden," Danny said, trying to joke it off, but Kwan's expression remain flat and not amused.

"High school is filled with people judging others without knowing the first thing about them." Kwan sighed as he reached up and raked a hand through his hair. "Dash may act like a complete jerk, but a single label doesn't define everything about him. After all, aren't you more than what the loser label says you are?"

"I guess." Danny scratched at the back of his head with a frown. "But Dash makes it _really_ easy to only see him as a jerk."

Kwan laughed and slapped Danny on the shoulder. "Okay. I'll give you that. But there really is more to him than that." His hand remained on Danny's shoulder as he leaned closer. "And I'll try to talk to Val about not extorting money from you again. But I can't promise anything."

"Uh, sure. Thanks," Danny said, and Kwan responded with a grin. After a quick pat on the shoulder, Kwan walked down the hall by himself, whistling as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket. Danny watched for a few moments then shook his head before he walked toward the cafeteria for lunch.

* * *

**panfan87**: Aw thanks~ 8D I've really enjoyed writing Danny and Jazz's interactions in this. I can't help but see Elle as a rebel against Vlad's strictness. XD;;;

**DB-KT**: I wish I could make $30 an hour. =( Though right now, any money would be awesome. *sighs* orz

**midnight**: Danny underestimates his own intelligence a little too much sometimes. =( Ah, the troubles of getting tangled up with A List drama. I think it's best that Danny never made it into the A List. XD;;;

**kirahphantom**: I make zero money. orz What are jobs and where can I find one? Can I grow one on a tree? *shot* There's like nothing around me hiring and I have zero skill anyway. Thanks! XD I really need to buckle down and get some more written soon!

**The freedom girl**: Yay Elle! XD And yes~ Vlad comes in as her father. I didn't do a good job being all mysterious there, did I? XD;;;

**twilightserius**: I guess Danny doesn't think about using blackmail against the A List. XD;;


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Danny tapped his pencil against the page where he was writing notes. Sam thought, if she could find a decent storage warehouse owned by her parents, they could try to have a training session on Friday and sometime over the weekend. Elle had texted him during lunch, sending a picture of a pop quiz on which she scored an eighty-six. She was excited about the score and said if it wasn't for him tutoring her on Sunday, she would have failed the quiz for sure. They discussed future tutoring sessions, and Elle definitely wanted to have one this Thursday because she had a big test on Friday she wanted his help to prepare for.

He frowned slightly as he glanced over the schedule of days for practicing his powers and tutoring Elle. If he wasn't careful, he would end up overwhelming himself between the two activities and leave no time for his own studying. _I can do this_, he told himself, _if I cut down on some of my video game playing_. His mouth pursed a bit tighter as he glared at the words on the page in his notebook. _When did Jazz's responsibility start rubbing off on me?_ He sighed as he rested his chin in one hand. Jazz would probably be proud of him, but Danny was definitely not going to tell her anything about it.

The bell rang, jerking him out of his thoughts. Danny flipped his notebook shut and packed up his things while the rest of the class hurried to rush out of their final class. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he stood to follow after his classmates. He had no plans for the rest of his day. Elle didn't need to see him until Thursday. Tucker was busy, again, with the robot club. Sam wanted to hang out at the Skulk and Lurk to check out the new shipment of books.

_Well, a little game play today wouldn't hurt anything_, Danny thought with a small smile. If he had to be responsible and manage his time better with the new activities, then he decided he would get in some major game play before he had to act like some stuffy, boring adult. He was just about to set foot outside the door when the clearing of a throat made him stop with a cringe. Danny turned around, shoulders hunching as he prepared for a scolding.

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?" he said, scrambling through his memories for a reason why his teacher would want to talk to him. He had gotten all his homework done on time before the field trip as promised!

Lancer leaned against his desk, folding his arms, and they practically rested on top of his potbelly. "I was happy to see you managed to finish all your work prior to the field trip last Friday." A proud smile graced the teacher's face, and Danny felt a moment of relief before Lancer's expression darkened, the smile wiping clean away. "But I heard from Mr. Green about a little incident that happened during the field trip."

Danny blanched, and that tingling about to turn intangible feeling crept up his legs. This was not a good time for his power to act up! Lancer was staring right at him and would definitely notice if he sank through the floor. Danny focused on keeping his body completely solid. He should have known Mr. Green would talk about the whole incident at Axion Labs to the other teachers! Though it still surprised him the teacher didn't call his parents about the incident. Maybe Lancer had something to do with that.

"That was, um-" Danny rubbed at the back of his neck, unable to meet his teacher's gaze. Why did he only have intangibility? He would give anything to turn invisible right now to avoid Lancer's disapproval.

"I think I have a pretty good guess of what happened." Lancer's mouth pressed thin. "Dash was picking on you again."

"Yes, well, no, I mean-" Danny sighed as he reached up and raked a hand through his hair. "He was picking on someone else, and I called him out on it. Then," he made awkward gestures with his hands, "things just happened."

Lancer nodded, understanding passing through his eyes. "As a teacher, I shouldn't advocate violence to solve your problems."

"He's the one that attacked me!" Danny argued, and with his rising anger, he could feel the shift, his eyes wanting to take on the glowing green. He crushed down the anger, forcing his eyes to remain their normal bright blue. If he couldn't get a handle of this strange new power he had, he wouldn't be able to keep it secret for too long, especially if it was so easily triggered by anger.

Lancer pushed away from the desk and walk over to him. "Danny," he placed a hand upon his student's shoulder, holding Danny's gaze with his own, "I remember exactly what it's like to be a high school student being bullied by the more popular crowd. I know it's not easy, but I also believe you can overcome this. Unfortunately, since I was not there to witness anything, I can't punish Dash for what happened."

"Well, I really wasn't trying to get him in trouble or anything." Danny shifted awkwardly. "Besides if he can't play in the game Friday, we'll pretty much get murdered by our rivals."

"Sports aren't everything."

"No," Danny agreed, frowning, "I know they aren't. But the whole school is counting on him for a victory. That's got to be a lot of pressure on him."

"I imagine that would be a lot of pressure." Lancer nodded, but his mouth pursed slightly. "Still, that is no excuse for harassing other students. He would do well to find another outlet for that aggression of his."

Danny wasn't sure what to say in response so he merely bobbed his head. "Ah, well," he glanced toward the door, "I should probably head home. You know, lots of homework to keep busy with."

"Oh?" An amused smirk twitched at Lancer's mouth. "And here I thought you wanted to run off and play video games."

Danny winced. "Okay. You caught me. But I promise it's only to relax for a little while. Then it's all about the homework."

Lancer's stare was stern, but he let up after a moment. "As long as you don't slack off on your homework."

"Right. No slacking off from me, Sir!" Danny saluted then had to grin when Lancer shook his head, fighting back a laugh at his student's silliness. "See you tomorrow!" With a wave, he left the classroom and headed down the hall toward his locker. His sister stood waiting by his locker as she hugged a thick textbook to her chest. "Just let me grab some books. Then we can head home."

"Actually, I have a thing I need to do," Jazz said, wincing apologetically. "You know, tutoring, helping with the debate team."

Danny rolled his eyes as he opened his locker. "Never a downtime for the amazing Jasmine Fenton." He chuckled when Jazz shoved him. "Well, don't let me keep you waiting. Go on." He shooed her away with one hand. "Do your boring responsible adult things. I'm just gonna go home and continue being an immature kid."

Jazz huffed a sigh and frowned at him. "Just be sure to get your homework done sometime while you're being an immature kid." She reached over and flicked him playfully on the forehead. "I'll see you at dinner."

Danny grabbed the rest of his things and closed the locker. After saying their goodbyes, they parted ways, Jazz going off to do her tutoring and other stuff while Danny headed out the front entrance of the school. Once he was down the steps to the school, he dropped his skateboard to the ground. Most of the upperclassmen had cars, or friends with cars, so they all hung out in the back of the school where the parking lot was. The students that came out the front of the school either walked home or milled around waiting on buses. He skated past all of them and down the street toward his house.

Danny made it to the end of the block and slowed to a stop when he realized someone had placed herself right in front of his way. A wary frown crossed his face, and he glanced around, but they were far enough away from the school to go unnoticed by the other students. He turned back to the woman, feeling hesitant about this encounter.

"Look," he said as she folded her arms and glared with cold green eyes. "I gave you all the money I have at the moment. I don't have another tutoring session until Thursday. Friday is the soonest I can get you anymore money."

"Well, I would have liked it sooner," Valerie said then pressed her fingers to her forehead as she shook her head. "Kwan was really mad at me for what I did. And since he's my best friend, I don't really want him not talking to me because of this."

"So," Danny said, drawing out the word as he glanced around cautiously, almost expecting this to be a trap, "you're saying what exactly?"

Valerie huffed like she couldn't believe Danny was this stupid. "I'm saying that I'm sorry," she ground out the word after some effort, "for extorting money out of you and forcing you to embarrass Paulina. I shouldn't have done that." She added in a mutter, "According to Kwan."

"Uh, thanks. I guess." Danny stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. This was about as odd a situation as having Dash act nice to him.

"Yeah," Valerie said harshly before grumbling, "well, you should thank Kwan really. He thinks after-" Her mouth pressed thin. "Well, he thinks I need to learn to lighten up some and let the little things go."

"Hey, I know what it's like to want to be popular." Danny shrugged. "I think pretty much everyone who isn't on the A List has wanted to find some way to get in with the rest of you. That's why I did all those embarrassing things. I just wanted to be liked by the rest of you. So I get wanting to keep your place." He felt like there was a story Valerie and Kwan had almost told him, but the pair bottled up in the end. "I promise no more of those fancy benefits for me, so you won't have to worry about me ruining another dress."

"Good. I would hate to have to kick your butt next time." Valerie smirked with such confident that Danny thought maybe she wasn't lying. She glanced at her watch, checking the time. "I should go. Kwan's waiting on me to drive me home. He said he would only wait for me if I promised to make peace with you. But don't think I'm going to be all nice to you from now on or anything."

"Of course," Danny agreed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Dash had said the same thing after the incident at Axion Labs. Valerie didn't even bother to say goodbye. She merely walked off, heading back toward the high school. Danny scratched a hand through his hair. "Okay. This has been a weird day," he mumbled to himself. Then with a shake of his head, he continued skating his way home. On the bright side, he hadn't slipped up and revealed his strange new powers to anyone during school.

_Maybe I should get something for Kwan as a thank you_, Danny thought as he neared his house. Kwan had stepped in dozens of times to defuse the situation whenever an A Lister was harassing not only him but others labeled as a loser. But what exactly did he get for a popular jock that he barely knew anything about? Saying a simple thank you felt kind of underwhelming compared to all the times Kwan saved him from getting beaten up.

When he reached his house, Danny bent over to scoop up his skateboard then entered through the front door. He leaned the skateboard against the wall in the front hall. A foul burnt smell came from the kitchen, and Danny followed it uncertainly, not sure he wanted to know what his parents were overcooking now. When he peered into the kitchen, he found his father trying to air out the smoke billowing from a pan in the sink.

"Do I want to ask?" Danny ventured cautiously.

"Ah! Danny!" His father turned toward him, grinning widely. His gaze dropped to the smoking pan, and he winced with a weak laugh. "I was making a snack and, well, got distracted with a project." He twirled his index fingers around each other like a child trying to explain to a grumpy parent about to yell at him, which made for an odd image in Danny's head.

"Mom's going to ban you from the kitchen if you end up burning down the house," Danny warned as he walked over to the sink. The pan had a layer of black sticky goop glued to it. "Though she might ban you for ruining all her pans first."

"I guess this one is beyond salvaging." His father frowned as he pulled the pan out of the sink. "But this can be our little secret." He grinned, and Danny worried about what was on his father's mind. "I have a few extra pans hidden away in the closet for occasions just like this. We dump this one in the trash, break out a new one, and Maddie will be none the wiser."

Danny suspected that wasn't entirely true. Many people believed his parents were completely oblivious to virtually everything beyond their research, but they could be annoyingly observant at times. Danny wouldn't be surprised if his mother had already caught on to her husband's little pan swap when he accidentally ruined them. He decided to keep quiet about his suspicions. Why burst his father's bubble?

"Well, I won't say anything if you don't tell Mom about me sneaking ice cream before dinner." Danny walked over to the refrigerator to grab a tub of Rocky Road ice cream.

"No tutoring tonight?" His father lifted a curious eyebrow.

Danny glanced over his shoulder as he dumped a scoop of the ice cream into a bowl. "Ah, no, Elle decided our next session will be on Thursday." He smiled, recalling her excited text with all the exclamation points and cap locks. After popping the top back onto the tub of ice cream, he returned it to the freezer. "But some of the stuff she's studying looks pretty advanced." His smile faded into a frown as he remembered looking over some of her textbooks. "I don't know that I'll be much help to her for long."

"You can't think like that!" His father slapped him on the back, hard, and Danny nearly dropped the ice cream scooper he was rinsing off. "Fentons are problem solvers, inventors, geniuses! I'm sure no matter what you come up against, you'll figure out a way to solve it and help her." Sometimes, his father could be a little too optimistic about everything, but Danny couldn't help but appreciate the way his father tried to cheer him up.

"So how do you explain Jazz's love of psychology?" Danny lifted his eyebrows curiously as he put a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

His father scratched at his head, his brow creasing in deep concentration as he searched for an answer. "Ah!" He snapped his fingers and grinned in success. "Psychologists help people with their mental problems. That's a form of fixing things. Problem solving. It's in the Fenton DNA." His father puffed out his chest proudly.

"Okay. You win that argument." Danny laughed as he pushed away from the counter. "You better take care of that pan before Mom comes up from the lab and sees it." He headed into the front room eager for some downtime playing video games before having to do his homework. He chuckled when his father yelped as he remembered the ruined pan and hurried to dispose of the evidence.

* * *

**twilightserius**: You mean the sample from Axion Labs? XD;;

**panfan87**: 8D I'm glad you're looking forward to each update!

**The freedom girl**: XD Dash has a thing for heroes? *shot* I swear Kwan has a sixth sense about those sort of things. Kwan just walks along then stops and thinks "my bully sense is tingling! A nerd needs my help!" then hurries off and gives some excuse to make the bully go away. XD;; Anger's always a good trigger for powers. XD;; Danny does have his moments of slipping, though I guess not as frequently as in the cartoon. orz ;;

**Tetractys**: Kwan, protector of the losers! XD I always like giving the A List more than the stereotypical bully persona. XD Who knows? Maybe Danny can start saving up for a car! Or a motorcycle! XD Assuming he doesn't need to start saving up for suit repair costs. XD;;;;

**midnight**: He's not very good with it yet though. XD;; Aw, Dash has a side of him that _isn't_ a complete bully. 8D Too bad he doesn't let that side shine more.

**simplegay me**: Aw~ Thanks! 8D I love Kwan lots~ *hugs him* He's such a big teddy bear~ Funny you say that because I was planning on writing another addition to Street Magician today. Or at least attempting to. When I get an idea for it. *sits and thinks for the next 20 hours* I swear Dan is in the story! He's going to come in eventually! Just... some other things need to happen first.

**kirahphantom**: Haha, yeah. Kwan was always that kind of character who just wanted to be liked by people, to me. The way he tried so hard to be friends with Sam and Tucker in Luck in Love. And then the way he was like "it was just an accident" when Valerie wanted him to beat up Danny for ruining her shirt. *pets Kwan* He has a good heart, but wanting to stay friends with the A List makes him do mean things sometimes. orz


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"You know, I'm not sure this is an entirely good idea." Tucker's mouth pulled in a tight frown as Sam parked her car in the school lot. "Danny still hasn't fully gotten a handle on his," he gestured awkwardly with his hands, "intangibility thing. And we're going to be surrounded by _a lot_ of people. I'm pretty sure not everyone is going to be completely oblivious. Someone might take notice if Danny falls _through_ the bleachers."

"That's not going to happen." Danny shook his head as he opened the door. "Besides everyone is going to be paying attention to the football game. They'll never notice if a loser like me suddenly vanishes because I fell through the bleachers."

"You have had some pretty close calls this week though," Sam said, sharing in Tucker's concern. "You're lucky no one noticed when you practically walked through the vending machine."

She had a point, and Danny winced, recalling the incident from Tuesday. They were walking through the hall, like usual, talking to each other, but Danny hadn't even noticed the vending machine until both Tucker and Sam grabbed hold of him and yanked him out of it. He though he was getting better at sensing when his body shifted to intangible, but some occasions still caught him by surprise. He had several minor incidents like that throughout the week, even denting his locker on accident when he didn't think about his strength as he slammed it shut. Mr. Green looked about ready to grab him by the ear and drag him straight to the principal's office, maybe even order his expulsion for damaging school property, if Lancer hadn't quickly intervened and dealt with the situation himself. Danny got off with a warning and had to promise to be more careful in the future.

Life at home wasn't exactly a walk in the park for him either. Trying to keep his secret from his family when he suffered minor hiccups with his powers had him walking on eggshells. At night, he felt drained from concentrating so much on keeping his powers controlled, and having his sister ask him if something was wrong. Sometimes he hated how observant his sister could be. His parents seemed to think he was just being a typical moody teenager, though Danny did catch some concerned looks from them. Maybe they weren't being as oblivious about it as he wished they would be.

Anger, apparently, wasn't the only trigger. His control slipped when he got nervous too. Which didn't help when he tutored Elle yesterday. The session went rather well, and he even had time to do some of his own homework while Elle worked out the answers for her own assignments. A few times, Danny actually had to research through Elle's textbook to get an understanding of what she was studying, but they managed to work things out together, which seemed to help Elle retain the information better. He almost couldn't believe how good it felt to help Elle with her homework, but he thought maybe he understood why Jazz was always reaching out to help people now.

The nervousness came when Elle's father returned home. Mr. Masters had quite the imposing aura about him. Danny kept having to remind himself to sit up straight in the man's presence, because Mr. Masters insisted he stay for dinner this time. Danny felt like it would be rude to turn down the invitation a second time. When he called to tell his parents he wouldn't be home for dinner, they told him to just be sure he was home before his curfew. Danny gulped, anxiety creeping through him. He had a chance to ask Mr. Masters about the projects at Axion Labs, but at the same time, he didn't want to look like a fool before the man.

"They still haven't found that missing sample," Mr. Masters said at one point during their dinner. Danny resisted the urge to reach up and touch the scar on the back of his neck at the mention of "sample." He remembered hearing one of the employees at Axion Labs say a sample was missing when he and Dash left the laboratory where the mechanical arm went crazy.

"Do you think it was the same people that broke into that place owned by the Manson family?" Elle asked, neither father nor daughter noticing the anxiety coming from their guest.

Mr. Masters shook his head. "No, those people would be foolish to try breaking into my company. And the sample went missing in the middle of the day. Sometime during that group of students were touring the company. I doubt a burglar would be _that_ brave."

Luckily, shortly after the conversation, Mr. Masters had to take a phone conference, leaving Danny and Elle to finish their dinner alone before they returned to their tutoring session. But Danny kept thinking about the whole thing with the sample. If it had disappeared after the incident in the laboratory, then it would be his and Dash's fault it went missing. When the mechanical arm threw him against the wall, some of the glass equipment had shattered. The missing sample was likely among them. Danny was too scared of Mr. Masters to mention it though. What if Mr. Masters got angry and filed charges against him for destroying property and losing the sample? What if he decided Danny wasn't an appropriate tutor for his daughter anymore? So Danny kept silent about the incident.

"Okay," Danny said to his friends as they walked toward the football field. "I know I've had mishaps, but that's the whole reason we're doing the training session tomorrow now that Sam's found a place where we can practice comfortably and without anyone seeing. I think I can make it through one game without having an accident."

"So," Tucker frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck, "do you plan on telling your parents about this?"

Danny hunched his shoulders. He had basically a week since the accident to think over that particular question, and he still didn't have an answer for it. "I'm not sure. How would they even react if I told them about this? _I_ don't even really know what happened to me. Beyond, you know, I _should_ be dead. I just-" He sighed. "I think it's probably best to keep it quiet until I figure out what exactly that accident did to me. I think I would just feel better if I could tell them exactly what the whole thing did to me." His parents being the leading experts where ectoplasm is concerned, though, would probably have a better understanding of what the accident did to him. Danny couldn't wipe out the bit of fear gnawing at him when he thought about telling them the truth though.

They neared the entrance to the football field where two of their teachers was manning the ticket booth. Ms. Chikara had lovely bronze skin and sleek black hair that she kept at shoulder length. She was easily the prettiest of their female teachers, and next to someone like Ms. Tetslaff, it was no contest. Danny had witnessed plenty of the other men at their school drooling over the young teacher during class. Perhaps lucky for her, Ms. Chikara was working alongside Lancer, who would stop anyone who dared from harassing his fellow teacher.

"Good evening, you three," Ms. Chikara greeted with a pleasant smile while Lancer worked the other side of the ticket booth. He had a thick book resting beside him, which Danny guessed he would read once the crowd thinned and gave him the time to concentrated on his book. "Did you bring your IDs?"

All three friends pulled out their student ID cards to show Ms. Chikara. Once she saw them, the teacher allowed them to head through the gate. Danny knew it was silly, but it always made him feel like some sort of VIP. With a flash of his student ID card, he got into home games for free. At away games, it got him a discount on the ticket.

"Jazz didn't want to come with us?" Sam asked as they headed toward the Casper High side of the stands.

"She said she had something to do," Danny answered, scratching the back of his head. His sister usually came with them when they went to watch their team play. She would always say it looked good to colleges when she showed school spirit by attending various functions like sports games. "She wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked though."

At one point, Jazz said she had to tutor Molly. Then she told him she had some project for a club to finish. Danny frowned at the memory of their conversation before he left to come to the game with his friends. Was Jazz so overworked with school and activities that she couldn't keep them all straight? Danny hated to think Jazz might actually have lied to him. He was fairly certain Jazz didn't even know how to lie. But why, then, did she keep changing her story tonight? A headache bloomed as he thought on it, and he pressed the heel of his palm against one eye, trying to will back the dull ache.

Danny followed his friends up the steps of the stands until they found a decent spot among the sea of Casper High students and parents decked out to support their team. They worked their way through the crowd to an open section on the bleachers and sat down, ready to enjoy the game, which would kick off in a few minutes. Their seats were in the middle of the stands, giving them a fairly good view of the field, but they were also right in the heart of the cheering to come when their team scored a touchdown. Danny almost wished he had brought earmuffs to muffle the noise.

"Ugh, seriously?"

All three friends turned their heads to the right, Tucker and Sam having to lean forward to see around Danny. Valerie sat right next to Danny with her yellow coat zipped up tight to protect her against the chilly night air. She wore a sour expression as she glowered at the three friends like they were a stain on her perfectly pristine clothing. The red and white C with an H inside it representing the logo of Casper High was painted upon her brown cheeks, and she had a Casper High scarf wrapped around her neck.

"This was the only open spot," Danny said, frowning at the displeasure on the woman's face.

"I'm surprised you're not sitting with your A List friends," Sam said with a snort, and Danny was glad she sat on the far side, away from Valerie. Tucker and he played buffer between the two women.

"Because tonight is my dad's night off," Valerie answered, and the electricity in the air as the two women glared at each other had Danny shifting uncomfortably. "And he really likes sports, so I thought bringing him to a game would be a great way to spend our rare night together. I don't need you losers ruining it."

"Whoa!" Danny waved his hands between Valerie and Sam's glares, trying to defuse some of the tension as they drew some looks from the crowd surrounding them. "You probably don't want your dad seeing you fight with anyone from school." He was guessing, but he knew if Jazz or his parents were with him at the game, he wouldn't want his family witnessing him getting into trouble. "So let's just put differences aside and get along. I think we can manage to sit beside each other for just one game."

Valerie narrowed her eyes, but after a moment, she huffed a sigh. "Fine. Whatever. As long your girlfriend doesn't say anything."

"We're not a couple," Danny and Sam argued together.

"And," Sam continued, "I'm not the one always starting fights."

"That's not really helping," Tucker muttered. "So, Val-"

"Don't even try it." Valerie shot him down before Tucker even had the chance.

Danny patted his disappointed friend on the back. Neither of them had much luck in the relationship department. Danny, actually, felt a bit jaded about the whole thing after all the rejections he had. What was the rush anyway? They were still in high school. They had a lifetime ahead of them to fall in love, and get their hearts broken more than a few times.

"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry."

Danny glanced past Valerie to see the familiar man making his way down the row toward them. Mr. Gray looked much the same as he did on television yet somehow completely different since he was out of uniform. But even Danny could see the bags under his eyes, which his glasses did little to hide. His work must keep him busy, even late into the night. Danny could see why Valerie didn't want anything to ruin this one night her father had to relax.

"That line at the concession stand was longer than I expected," Mr. Gray said as he sat down next to his daughter on the bleacher. "You still like it with relish and mustard, right?" He passed one of the hotdogs he held to Valerie, who nodded. The second hotdog seemed to be drowning in ketchup with a splash of mustard.

Danny's attention turned, like the rest of the crowd, when the two teams took the field, getting ready for the kick off. Their team was on a winning streak, and even though they were playing against the rivals, the Elmerson High Falcons, their odds of winning were good. Dash had an amazing arm, which only got better each year. Kwan, despite his kind nature, could tackle like nobody's business. Danny still felt like Kwan hadn't _meant_ to tackle him in the hall because he was certain the jock would have broken him if he tackled him on purpose. Liam had finally gotten over his butterfingers stage and could catch almost every ball tossed his way. Vincent had a way of weaving past opponents to make it to the end zone whenever he got the ball. But Elmerson High was still a tough team, and both teams would be fighting every step of the way, which meant they were in for a good game.

Cheers screamed from the crowd the moment the football flew through the air after the kick off. Danny yelled right alongside the rest of the Casper High students and family members as their team caught the ball and ran toward the end zone. But with Valerie and her father sitting right beside him, Danny was overly conscious of himself. Not only did he have to reign in his control to keep his powers in check, but he had to be careful not to do anything to upset Valerie, like accidentally bump into her while she ate her hotdog and spill the condiments all over her coat.

Their team managed to score the first goal, and their side of the stands erupted into loud cheers. Danny got to his feet with his friends, clapping and hollering. Mr. Gray was more subdued about his cheering but seemed happy and enjoyed the game. Valerie, Danny noted, mostly cheered for Kwan, like when he managed to tackle the other team's player to protect Dash so he could throw the ball down field to one of the other players. Danny wasn't sure why, but he was happy to see Valerie had someone she considered a real friend. But ever since her father had returned with their hotdogs, Valerie made a point of ignoring the three friends.

They were nearing the end of the second quarter, and Casper High was up one touchdown. Elmerson High wasn't giving up easily though. Danny cringed when one of the players from Elmerson High slammed into Jamie, knocking him to the ground. But Jamie didn't get up right away, causing tension to sweep over the crowd as the stands fell silent. They had to help Jamie off the field, and from the way he held onto his right shoulder, he had obviously injured it during the tackle. Everyone clapped when Jamie left the field, but Danny could feel a shift in the mood of the crowd. No one wanted to see a player injured during the game, and it was always unfortunate when it did happen. Then the game went to half time, giving the fans the chance to hit the washrooms and concession stands during the brief pause in the game.

"I'm gonna get some snacks. You two want anything?" Tucker asked as he stood.

"Just water," Sam replied with a book already in her hands. The cover was black, and Danny couldn't read the overly elaborate curling text on the cover but he was positive Sam picked it up from the Skulk and Lurk.

"A candy bar if they have any left," Danny said, and his phone vibrated against his hip. He reached into his pocket as Tucker made his way to the stairs of the bleachers. Staring at his phone with a frown, he thought for a moment before he realized who had sent the text.

On Monday, when he was playing his video game, Danny met up with D again. He told his new friend he probably wouldn't be playing the game as much because his life would be getting a bit busy in the future. He didn't mention it was because of school work and tutoring, and he definitely couldn't say anything about the whole training. D sounded disappointed when he heard the news and asked if they could keep in contact outside the game. Danny could already hear Jazz lecturing him about handing out his contact information to a total stranger he only met in an online video game. He knew it was probably a dumb idea, but Danny had fun chatting with D when they were playing the game together. So after a moment's debate, he agreed to exchange contact information, and they kept in touch through texts.

'_I would fly to the moon and back if you'll be my baby_~'

Danny snorted at the text, and next to him, Sam lifted her gaze from her book. Her eyebrow arched upward in silent question. Danny shook his head at her as he typed back his response.

'_You're never going to stop with the space references, are you?'_

_ 'Nope~ ;)'_

Danny rolled his eyes.

'_I guess that's what I get for using the handle AstroNerd_.'

'_So what'cha up 2?'_

Danny glanced around as the crowd swarmed back to the stands. The second half of the game was about to begin.

'_At a football game.'_

_ 'Is that what you meant by busy? Wait. does that mean u play?'_

Danny laughed then his cheeks burned when he noticed his friends give him a look. "Sorry. Just talking to someone." He accepted the candy bar Tucker handed off to him as his friend reclaimed his spot between Danny and Sam.

'_Me? No way. not the athletic type.'_

"Who are you talking to?" Tucker asked, jerking Danny out of his anxious waiting for the next reply.

"Is it that guy from the game again?" Sam frowned, and the disapproval reminded Danny too much of his sister. "You probably shouldn't have given him your number."

"It's fine. We're just chatting," Danny said, dismissing the worry his friends showed. "It's not like I've given him my home address and he's going to stalk me or something. We just like talking about the game and stuff."

"I still don't know that it's a good idea." Sam folded her arms, her book resting on her lap.

Danny opened his mouth, but before he could respond, he shuddered, an icy sensation trickling down his spine like someone dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt. He swallowed, trying to force down the lump settling in his throat. Dread came over, a feeling of something being seriously wrong.

"Hey, you all right?" Tucker dropped a hand on his shoulder with a worried look in his green eyes.

Danny jumped at the touch. But at that same moment, a boom rocked the stands. Screams of terror drowned out the cheers from the crowd. The players on the field all halted in the middle of a play. Everyone sought out the source of the noise, eventually drawn toward the smoke billowing from one section of the school. Then the panic rushed through the crowd. Someone kicked Danny in the back as they scrambled to leave the stands. Chaos spread like a virus, and Danny watched it all happening with wide eyes as numbness seeped into him. What just happened?

* * *

**twilightserius**: Hm~ I wonder what that mystery sample could have been. 8)

**The freedom girl**: Most definitely! XD Dash can deny it all he wants, but he's a hero fanboy through and through. Kwan does seem to have that way of magically appearing when he's needed. XD I love Jack~ He might seem like a goof most of the time, but he's definitely a loving father and smart!

**midnight**: I think the weird has only just begun for Danny. D:

**simplegay me**: Well, nicer, but she's not about to start acting all buddy-buddy with them. I hope you enjoyed that latest chapter of Street Magician!

**Msawesome562**: Ah~ Sorry. D: It's going to be haunted past. When I mean it to be pitch pearl, I usually label the pairing as Fenton x Phantom. Sorry haunted past creeps you out. =(


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Holy hard drive! What was that?"

Danny barely heard his friend's exclamation. He didn't even notice when he had stood up during the chaos surrounding them. His attention focused on the school building, and his vision blurred for a brief instant, forcing him to blink, as he watched the curl of thick smoke rising into the air. When he opened his eyes again, he sucked in a sharp breath. All around, spots dotted the sky, like glowing green freckles, and they seemed to be converging on the spot where the smoke broke through the roof of the school building.

"Danny!"

Yanked back a step, Danny blinked at his friends, both with panic in their eyes as they held him back. Then it hit him. He was about to take a step forward and send himself tumbling down the bleachers without even a second thought about what he was doing. He swallowed thickly, shaken by that realization.

"Your eyes," Tucker whispered urgently.

Danny clamped his eyes shut, and after a moment to concentrate, he felt them shift back to their normal blue. Why didn't he notice when they shifted to green in the first place? He couldn't have that happen in a crowded place! His friends looked only slightly relieved when he opened his eyes to show they were normal again, but Sam and Tucker seemed as shaken by the experience as he felt.

"So much for a night off." Behind them, Mr. Gray sighed warily, and Danny craned his head around to glance over his shoulder. Mr. Gray got to his feet, appearing aged from exhaustion. "I should get down there and help them."

Danny turned toward "down there" and saw Coach Slater trying to command some order to the panic of everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off after the explosion. Mr. Lancer had left the ticket booth so that he could help the football coach deal with the students and parents. Ms. Chikara wasn't present, but Danny figured she had to stay with the money and make sure it didn't get stolen. After that explosion, they were probably going to need all the money they made from tonight's game to repair the damage.

"You'll get a ride home with your friends?" Mr. Gray stared with concern at his daughter.

"Yeah," Valerie answered dejectedly.

Mr. Gray gave her a quick kiss on the forehead then hurried down the stairs of the bleachers to help the teachers gain some control of the situation. Sirens already blared in the distance as more police, an ambulance, and a fire truck made their way to the high school. Someone, or possibly several someones, had obviously phoned in the incident. Valerie watched her father, frowning at the back of his head, until she glanced over and noticed Danny staring at her.

"What?" Valerie demanded, immediately switching to the defensive as she scowled at him.

Danny shook his head. "Nothing. I just - It must suck having your time with your father interrupted like this. I just wanted to say sorry." He shrugged awkwardly. "Do you want us to help you find Kwan?"

For a moment, it seemed like Valerie's green eyes softened a tad, but then they hardened into an angry glare. "I can take care of myself. I don't need _losers_ to help me with anything." She turned on her heel and walked toward the stairs of the bleachers leading down toward the field.

"Why would you offer to help her?" Sam questioned, frowning at Danny like he suggested something outrageous like they should shave their heads and get tattoos.

"Hey, I know Valerie hasn't been nice to us. But," Danny scratched the back of his head, "does that really mean we have to act like jerks to her? Great. Jazz is in my head again. I guess I'm just saying that bumping heads with them only makes the A List hate us more."

"Oh. So if we act all nice and friendly to them, they _won't_ shove us into lockers and jam our heads into toilets?" Tucker snorted. "I really doubt that."

"Yeah, if the A List is going to treat us like dirt, I don't see any reason to treat them any better," Sam said, folding her arms. Her violet eyes darted around the stands. "Anyway, I think we should probably get out of here. I doubt they're going to continue the game after that explosion."

"What do you think happened anyway?" Tucker frowned as he glanced toward the school.

The fire truck had arrived, and firemen hurried toward the site of the explosion to put out any fires within the school. The paramedics were rushing around to see if anyone on the field suffered an injury, though a few followed the firemen into the school. Was someone hurt in the accident? Danny hoped not, but in the back of his head, he noted he no longer saw the little flecks of green spotting the night sky.

He could only shrug and shake his head in response to his friend's question. "No idea. But we should probably go like Sam said." Danny followed his friends down the stairs of the bleachers, thinking it was a shame the game had to be interrupted.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Danny glanced around, spying Valerie who had met up with Kwan and some of the other A Lists. Mr. Gray was directing the police who had showed up and helping out wherever he could. Some news crews had shown up, and Danny groaned at the sight of Lance Thunder as he combed back his blond hair, preparing to go on air with the news report about the explosion at the school. The three friends managed to sneak away from the football field and make it to Sam's car without anyone noticing them, which wasn't surprising since everyone's attention was more focused on the explosion, though the smoke had faded away by then.

"Do you think anyone got caught up in the explosion?" Danny asked as they drove away from the school.

None of them had an idea of what to do now, but they also didn't want to sit around at the football field. He doubted they would get any answers if they tried to ask their teachers or the police officers about what happened. The adults generally didn't tell the "kids" anything, so sticking around seemed rather pointless. They needed to go someplace where they could kick back and unwind after such an event.

"I hope not," Sam said, echoing Danny's earlier thought, as she drove aimlessly around until someone suggested a place for them to go.

"You know," Tucker said, his voice unusually strained, "if I think about where the smoke was come up from, it - it kind of looked like it was near the robotics club room."

Danny's eyes grew wide, and he pulled himself forward, sticking his head between the front seats to look his friend in the face. "You don't think your robot got destroyed, do you?"

"It's possible." Tucker lowered his gaze, misery settling over him. He had spent so much time working on the robot for the contest. To have it all taken away in the flash of an explosion had to feel like a punch directly to the heart.

"Oh man," Danny mumbled, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "I'm so sorry if something happened to it. I know how much you put into that robot."

"We can start again." Despite his effort to sound positive, Tucker looked like he wanted to be alone so his friends wouldn't witness him crying. "I don't know that we'll have enough time to reconstruct everything for the contest. But," his smile faltered and crumbled, "it's worth a try, right?"

"Yeah!" Danny said encouragingly. "Of course it is! I'll even give you a hand if I can." He was no genius with robotics, but he knew a thing or two about engineering and he could follow instructions on how to piece things together. Tucker managed a weak smile, but he still looked pretty down about the idea of the robot getting destroyed in the explosion. Danny thought for a moment, deciding a change of topic was needed because the mood was getting a little too depressing. "So where should we spend the rest of our Friday night?"

Sam tilted her head with a thoughtful pursing of her lips. "We could check out the warehouse I found." She glanced at her friends, waiting for their response to her suggestion.

Danny shrugged. "I doubt there's anything else to do tonight. Everyone was at the game pretty much."

"Sure," Tucker agreed with a small chuckle. "Having Danny run into walls will be a great way to cheer me up."

Danny gave him a shove, and Tucker laughed louder. "Gee, I'm glad I can help amuse you." He fell back against his seat and relaxed as Sam drove toward the warehouse owned by her family's company.

The warehouse wasn't entirely what Danny imagined when he thought of one. It wasn't some grungy looking building on the edge of town with board up broken windows. It was a nice building with clean gray stone walls. If he was just passing by it randomly, Danny would have thought it was some sort of fancy business rather than a place used for storing supplies. But it was owned by Sam's family, and they were loaded. Sam's mother also preferred everything to _look_ perfect, so a dingy warehouse simply wasn't acceptable to her.

"Are you sure we can practice here without anyone knowing?" Danny asked, giving the building a wary glance over as they walked up to the front door.

"Yeah," Sam slid a key card through the lock and pounded in the code, "and the only person who's going to be around this late at night is the guard." She yanked open the door when it unlocked. "And he'll be easy to get rid of. I'll just tell him we'll be using the basement, and he'll leave us alone."

Inside, the walls were stark white with little adornment. They were met by an employee only moments after the door shut behind them. The man wore the usual overalls of someone who worked in a warehouse lugging around boxes, like the one he currently held. Knitted navy gloves protected his hands from the hard edges of the box. The man frowned, landing a sink eye glance on each one of them.

"What are you kids doing here?" he asked, shifting his hold on the box to something more comfortable.

"We thought we could use the space in the basement to work on a project," Sam explained, and her friends were happy to let her take the lead on this. "For school. We won't get in the way or anything." She blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Isn't your shift over already?"

The man's expression immediately twisted into a grumpy glower. "I was about to head home when I noticed some of those new workers were careless and mixed up where the supplies were supposed to be stored. The boxes are clearly marked! Have they no pride in their work? Sure. It might sound like an easy job. Just unloading the supplies from the delivery trucks and storing them away and shipping supplies to the facilities when they need them and taking inventory to make sure nothing is missing. But that's no reason to slack off and just throw the boxes in randomly. That just makes the work twice as hard when we need to fill an order from the other facilities!"

"Well, I'm sure my parents will be quite pleased with how hard working and dedicated you are to your job," Sam cut in before the man could continue with his rant. "We'll just get out of your way then." She waved for her friends to follow her. They headed down the hall to an elevator and slipped inside without the man trying to stop them. He seemed content enough to ignore their presence after Sam's comment about her parents being pleased with him.

"So this place should have lots of medical supplies, right?" Danny asked when the door slid shut. "We could probably take a sample of my blood and run some tests on it."

"My parents like to keep careful inventory of all the supplies." Sam leaned against the back of the elevator as it carried them down to the basement level. "But there's usually a few things here and there that go missing. You know, like they get used but the employees forget to make note of it, so the amounts don't always add up."

"But would we even know what we're looking for when we look at your blood?" Tucker asked then frowned when his friends turned their gazes upon him. "I might know my stuff when it comes to tech, but this whole blood stuff, I don't know anything about it. And you know, I'm not really good with the whole needles thing."

"Oh yeah," Danny said, wincing as he recalled Tucker's fear of needles, and basically anything related to hospitals. It was always a nightmare for Tucker's parents when he needed to go to see the doctor for any reason. Even a simple physical. "I guess Sam and I can take care of blood stuff later." The elevator came to a stop, and the three friends stepped out once the doors had opened. "That might be better to do in my parents' lab anyway. We'd have everything we need right there."

"Assuming your parents are ever out of the house long enough for us to do anything in their lab," Sam reminded, leading the way to an area on the far side of the basement, hidden behind rows of boxes. "Well, I know this doesn't look like a lot of open space, but you need to practice walking through things, so this will give you lots of obstacles at least."

Danny watched with a flat stare as his friends got comfortable, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the stacks of boxes. "You both just want to laugh at me when I run into things instead of walking through them."

"It is pretty funny." Tucker grinned from ear to ear with amusement in his green eyes.

Danny huffed a dramatic sigh, but after the explosion at school and Tucker worrying about his robot being destroyed, he decided he could suffer through a little humiliation to put a smile on his friend's face. Shifting forms got easier with practice, but it still took him a moment of concentration to transform. While he could randomly phase through things without meaning to, he found turning intangible on command worked better when he was in this weird other form.

"That still freaks me out," Tucker said, drawing Danny's attention back to him. "You just look so weird with the greenish skin and white hair."

"We really need to do something about your clothes though." Sam wrinkled her nose slightly at the now orange jeans. She might not be into fashion with the same passion as Paulina, but Sam still would never allow him to be seen in public with the bizarre color scheme of his clothes when he transformed.

"Well, it's not like I have any control over that." Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he frowned. "It just," he shrugged, "inverts whenever I change." He walked forward and immediately smacked into a stack of boxes. "Ow!" He held his nose. "Why can't I get this?" It was frustrating that he couldn't make himself intangible on command all the time. Sometimes he thought he was getting the hang of it. Then he would run into a wall, or a stack of boxes.

"You are getting better though," Tucker said, throwing some encouragement into his voice.

Danny took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He could do this! Stepping forward again, he felt a tingle run through his body. Walking through something solid was an odd experience. His whole body had that pins and needles feeling like every inch of him had fallen asleep all at once. He wondered what it would be like to walk through a person, but at the same time, the idea kind of scared him. What if he acted like a ghost and walking through someone was like possessing them? What if he got stuck inside someone's body? He didn't want to take that risk. On the other side of the boxes, Danny struggled to push away the numb feeling of intangibility.

"Maybe I am getting better," Danny called to his friends as a light smile curled upon his face. But even if he mastered control of the intangibility, what was he supposed to do with this power? He hadn't even given thought to that question, too concerned with simply controlling the power so no one else found out what he could do. With a shake of his head, he walked back through the boxes to rejoin his friends. Why did he have to do anything with them? He was only a teenager, and his biggest concern was to simply survive high school.

* * *

**panfan87**: I'm a sucker for a cliffhanger. 8D Haha~ Please don't kill me! D:

**The freedom girl**: Dash is the biggest fanboy ever. XD Oh the drama~ XD;; Looks like some events are starting to be put into motion.

**coopt98**: Vlad could probably easily find out that Danny was involved in the accident at Axion Lab during the tour group. XD;; Who knows? Maybe he already does know about that!

**DB-KT**: Well, maybe not quite yet. But something is definitely going on!

**Tetractys**: Danny hasn't had that kick in the pants to drive him toward a purpose of using his powers. Yet. Who knows what could have caused the explosion? 8) It's definitely going to be haunted past. XD;; Though I still need to figure out a name for Dan because he can't be running around calling himself Phantom because that's Danny's name. XD;;;

**simplegay me**: Aw~ I'm glad you liked it! 8D There shall definitely be more interaction with D in the future~

**twilightserius**: Poor Danny~ Being caught in the middle of a panicking mob probably isn't the best thing for him.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"I still can't believe it," Tucker mumbled, sitting in shock with his Nasty Burger burger untouched before him.

After their short impromptu training session last night, they went home, Sam dropping Tucker and Danny off at their houses. Danny found out what happened when he flipped on the television to play the news in the background while he did some of his homework. Since he would be tutoring Elle again over the weekend, he wanted to be sure to get most of his homework done while he had the time. But when the news came on, his mind was immediately distracted as Lance Thunder reported from the high school. According to what the reporter had to say, the source of what caused the explosion wasn't found as of yet, but someone _was_ caught in the explosion. The ambulance whisked Mr. Technus away to the hospital, badly injured and unconscious.

"We were off having a good time, making jokes and all that, while he-" Tucker swallowed thickly, and his eyes were watery with tears.

"He might come out of the coma," Sam said, trying to be positive, though the situation looked rather grim.

Tucker had been close to Mr. Technus ever since they started high school and he joined the robotics club. Some days when they met up for lunch, Tucker would ramble on about everything that happened at the latest club meeting and all the things he was learning from his teacher.

"But he shouldn't have even been there!" Tucker argued, banging a fist down on the table. Then he sank down in the booth as his outburst drew a few looks. "He said he was going over to Axion Labs to discuss some ideas with them. He didn't really have any reason to go back to the robotics club room."

"Maybe he forgot something and went back to pick it up," Danny suggested, dipping his fries into some ketchup. From the moping expression, their efforts to console Tucker was doing little to lift his mood.

"It sucks," Sam agreed, frowning as she pushed around the remains of her salad. "But you can't dwell on the accident like it was your fault. No one could have predicted something like that was going to happen. They even said they couldn't identify what caused the explosion. It was a freak accident. We were all present at the time, and no one could have seen the explosion coming."

The fries slipped from Danny's hand, landing with a splat on his burger wrapper. His stomach twisted uncomfortably, and he lost the rest of his appetite as something occurred to him. Then he noticed his friends staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern. Danny tried to laugh it off, but that response only made them glare with a determination to get answers out of him.

"Okay. Fine." Danny sighed. After a quick glance around the Nasty Burger, he leaned in closer and his friends copied him. "At the game, just before the explosion, I had this feeling, like-" Danny struggled to think of how to describe it. "It was like when a teacher announces we're having a pop quiz and you just _know_ you're going to fail it. It was kind of like that. That just _knowing_ something bad was about to happen."

"Wait. Wait. Wait." Tucker waved his hands before him. "Are you," he pointed at Danny, "trying to say you knew there was going to be an explosion? Is this part of your, uh," he glanced about quickly, "condition? Super strength, intangibility, and now premonitions?"

"I wouldn't really say premonitions." Danny scratched at the back of his head. "Just a sort of, I don't know, sixth sense. I mean, there have been times all week when I've sort of had this sense that something was going to happen. Like whenever Dash or one of the other jocks tried to bully me. I could have dodged them thanks to the warning, but I let most of them hit because it would be weird if I was suddenly really good at avoiding their harassment."

"That's actually probably a really smart idea," Sam said after a beat of silence passed over the three friends.

"Gee, don't sound too surprised or anything," Danny grumbled, shooting her a dull glare. "I don't want anyone other than the two of you finding out what happened to me. That means I have to pretend to still be my same old loser self."

Tucker groaned. "But imagine what you could do! You could totally scare the daylights out of those jocks. Plus with a little supernatural strength," he grinned deviously, "you could totally pay them back for all the bullying they've put you through."

"I don't think that's how he should use these powers." Sam folded her arms, wearing a severe frown as she narrowed her violet eyes at Tucker.

"Oh, of course not. What was I thinking?" Tucker rolled his eyes. "Why would I ever think using your superior strength against someone else is a good idea?" He shot a look toward the back of the Nasty Burger where some of the jocks were sitting. "Because no one has ever done _that_ in the history of the world."

"Just because you _have_ power doesn't mean you should use it like that," Sam argued. "If he did that, he would be no better than the jocks who bully him for being weaker than they are."

"Hey!" Danny cut in, slapping a hand down on the table to get their attention, which didn't work too well when his arm accidentally phased straight through the table. He hoped no one else saw that, and a panicked scan of the Nasty Burger showed no one was even paying any attention to them. "My powers," he reminded them with a glare. "I'll decide how I want to use them." He sighed, exhaling some of his rage. He could feel his eyes on the verge of shifting to green. "And right now," he continued more calmly, "I don't have any reason to use these powers. I just want to focus on controlling them so I don't accidentally expose myself."

"It is a miracle that no one else has discovered your little secret though," Tucker said then took a large bite out of his burger, which earned a twisted face of disgust from Sam. But at least Tucker had gotten over his depression about Mr. Technus enough to eat again. "I mean," he swallowed the mouthful, "with all the accidents you've had, it would really easy for someone to notice _something_ is up."

"Which makes me worried about Jazz." Danny raked a hand through his hair. He practically fell right through the floor the moment her heard about Mr. Technus being in a coma. Jazz had walked past the kitchen doorway at that exact moment, but luckily for Danny, his sister had her nose in some book and hadn't noticed the incident. "She's always a bit _too_ observant, and I fear she'll begin to notice all the weirdness going on. But let's face it. Unless I'm being picked on by bullies, I'm pretty much as invisible as the ghosts my parents want to capture."

"Turning invisible! Now that would be an awesome ability." Tucker grinned. "Especially with that intangibility." He jumped with a yelp then bent over to rub his shin under the table. Sam wore a dark scowl as she folded her arms. Both of his friends had a fairly good idea of what thought was passing through his mind just then: Tucker would use those abilities to sneak into the girls locker room at school.

"Maybe if you treated women like actual people, you'd get a date," Sam suggested with a pointed glare.

"And with that, I should probably get going." Danny slid easily out of the booth. He did not want to get dragged into this argument. "I have a tutoring session with Elle." Thanks to the generous amount of money he was making from tutoring, he could save up what he earned to maybe buy a ride of his own. As much as he liked his skateboard, he would be able to get places faster if he had a car.

"Leaving already?" Tucker begged him with his eyes not to leave him alone with Sam, who looked ready to start in on a rather long rant.

"Yeah, sorry. I agreed to meet up with Elle, and if I don't leave now, I'm going to be late." Danny slung his bag over one shoulder then scooped up his skateboard. "I'll catch up with you both later." He waved goodbye to his friends, receiving a gloomy response from Tucker and a sharp angry reply from Sam. With a cringe, he headed for the exit of the Nasty Burger. He did not want to be Tucker right now and have to sit through Sam reminding him, again, about how women were more than just sex objects for men. He already heard that speech after Sam got tired of him drooling over Paulina back during freshmen year.

As he skated away from the Nasty Burger, Danny frowned. Thinking about Paulina made him think of the A List which in turn reminded him of Kwan. He still hadn't thought of a good way to say his thanks to the jock who had saved his neck on more than one occasion. He couldn't really ask anyone who knew him either. Dash and Valerie probably wouldn't be all that opened about sharing information about their friend with a loser, even if things were a little better with them. They bullied him, but Dash still seemed to have some respect toward him and Valerie was making the effort so Kwan wouldn't be angry with her.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he shook the thought from his head. He could worry about finding a way to thank Kwan later. Right now, his focus should be on the tutoring session he was about to have with Elle. Maybe Elle might have some good ideas. It would be easier to talk about it with Elle than his friends since Sam, especially, and Tucker didn't much like the A List. They certainly had little desire to be nice to any of the A List.

Danny pushed forward as he reached a street and the walk symbol still showed on the light. He barely got off the curb when an icy cold tingle ran down his spine. Putting his foot down on the ground, he paused as he tried to figure out why he was feeling that sense of dread. It wasn't nearly as strong as last night at the football game right before the explosion, but it was stronger than the usual feeling he got at school when a bully was about to strike. Then his thoughts scattered to wind when an arm caught him around the waist, jerking him backward. His skateboard flew out from under his feet, clattering over the pavement. At the crunch of the skateboard being snapped to pieces under the wheels of the car speeding past him with a blare of a horn, his heart stopped and his eyes widened. That car would have hit him if the person hadn't pulled him back toward safety. He tried to swallow, but his throat felt tight and dry. His legs were like jelly, and he dimly thought it was a good thing someone else was holding him up or he would have collapsed to the ground already.

Wait. Someone was holding him up? The thought pierced through his panic, finally making a connection in his brain. Danny twisted his head around to see who saved him from becoming a pavement pancake, but he couldn't see much. The man - with his back pressed against the other man's chest it was quite clear that it was in fact a man - wore a heavy hooded sweatshirt. Even with the hood up, he wore a baseball cap, which only helped keep his face in shadows. The sunglasses didn't help in identifying the man either, and all Danny could really see was the grim press of the man's mouth and the tuft of hair upon his chin. Then the man's mouth curled into a smirk, and Danny gulped.

"You should be more careful," the man said in a deep voice. "It would be a shame to have a cutie like you getting splattered all over the street."

Danny tried to respond with, "What?" but the word got trapped somewhere in his throat as the arm pulled away from him. The man's fingers brushed over the exposed flesh of Danny's waist, and it wasn't until this action that he realized his shirt had pulled up when the man yanked him back out of the way of the car. His face flared red, and Danny scrambled to sort out his clothes, jerking his shirt back into place. When he twisted around to say something, he found the man was gone, vanishing as if he was never there in the first place. But Danny could still recall the feel the man's muscular arm around him, keeping him safe from being run over by the speeding car, which Danny was certain ran the red light.

Holding a hand to his head, Danny closed his eyes and tried to calm his still quickly beating heart. The sixth sense had helped warn him of danger, but he wasn't observant enough to realize the danger was the speeding car about to hit him. _I guess that's a lesson to be a bit more aware of my surroundings_, he thought as he glanced at the remains of his skateboard. When the coast was clear, Danny walked into the street and picked up the pieces of wrecked skateboard. Thankfully there was a lull in traffic so he didn't have to worry about being nearly run over by another speeding car. Once he reached the other side of the street, Danny paused, clutching his skateboard parts to his chest as the man's words fully struck him. He spun around to look back at where the man had pulled him to safety, but of course, the man was long gone by then.

_He called me cutie?_ Danny's brain boggled over that fact. The man was clearly several years older than he, and though he hadn't gotten a good look at his face, Danny could definitely say the man possessed strong muscles and a decent physique under the heavy hooded sweatshirt he wore. Danny thought for certain his cheeks were on fire because they were burning so much from his blush. Then he shook his head and continued on his way toward Elle's home. What was he even thinking, getting all embarrassed by some man calling him a cutie? He didn't even know the man! And anyway, Danny doubted he would ever run into that random stranger again. _Get it out of your head_, he told himself as he focused his mind on tutoring Elle.

* * *

**kirahphantom**: Who knows? XD;; The explosion is a mystery~

**Kuronique Misaki**: And once they're under control comes the even more dangerous part of using them to battle super powers villains! XD;;

**midnight**: *pats Tucker* Hard times for him.

**The freedom girl**: So mysterious~ XD And things are only just beginning for him! You'll have to wait to find out the answer to that! XD

**Tetractys**: People recognized him as the Box Ghost! 8D Yay! Danny will find his heroic niche soon enough. XD;;

**DB-KT**: All the good stuff happens behind the scenes. XD;;;

**twilightserius**: Ah~ XD Probably not.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

When the door opened, the scowling face of Carmina greeted Danny. She breathed out loudly in annoyance as she stepped aside to allow him entry into the Masters' home. She clearly didn't like him coming into the home she managed any more than Harold liked Danny visiting Sam's house.

"Ah, you greet me with such a beautiful smile every time I come over," Danny said, wearing a cheeky grin. Maybe Sam had a point about his comments angering the staff because Carmina landed him with a glare that screamed of murder. Danny laughed awkwardly. "Right. So I'll just go find Elle. No, no need to lead the way. I know how much you enjoy my company, but really, I'm just here to tutor Elle."

Danny inched away from the woman, trying to be subtle about it. Her glare, if possible, darkened, and Danny wondered if she had something worse than murder on her mind at the moment. _Yeah_, he thought, _the staff just loves me_. One of these days, he wound need to learn not to run his mouth. Today, however, didn't seem to be that day.

"Now, now, Carmina," said a man in a smooth voice Danny recognized to be Elle's father. Danny turned around to see the man walking down the stairs. After seeing him only in three piece suits, it was odd to see Mr. Masters wearing something casual, like the beige pleated slacks and soft green polo shirt he had on now. His silver hair with the odd lighter streak down the middle was pulled back into its usual ponytail. "You mustn't scowl so much at our guests. They might think poorly of the whole house if the staff treats our guests so poorly."

"My apologies, my lord." Carmina bowed lowly to the head of the house.

"Ah, it's okay," Danny said quickly. He didn't need Carmina hating him even more because he got her into trouble with her employer. "It was totally my fault."

Mr. Masters gave him a curious look, like he was trying to analyze a particularly difficult sample in his research. "I plan to take my lunch now," he told Carmina. His dark blue eyes drifted back to Danny. "Would you care to join me?"

"Ah, that's okay." Danny still had the remains of his skateboard clutched in his arms. "I just had lunch with my friends. And I should probably get started on that tutoring with Elle."

Mr. Masters nodded as Carmina bowed again and left them, heading toward the kitchen. "It seems you've arrived early for today's session," he said and walked toward to the dining room.

Danny blinked then stumbled after him. "Wait. What do you mean?"

"My daughter decided to spend the night out with a friend last night. She hasn't returned home quite yet." Mr. Masters took a seat at the head of the table to wait for his lunch to be served. "Rather inconsiderate, wouldn't you say? She made plans to meet with you for tutoring and failed to notify you have her tardiness." His mouth pursed slightly, clearly indicating his displeasure with his daughter's behavior.

Danny frowned. "Okay. Maybe it would have been nice to get a heads up about her being late," he admitted. "But Elle's only fifteen. You can't fault her for acting like a teenager sometimes."

Mr. Masters leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "You defend my daughter. I appreciate that. However, I raised Elle for most her life as a single father. I have certain expectations for her. One of those expectations is that she honors the commitments she makes and shows up on time to said commitments."

"Well, sure, but-" Danny struggled against the man's argument. "It's just this one time. And I don't really mind, so it's no big deal."

"The behavior is rude and shows you disrespect." Mr. Masters frowned deeply as he stared at Danny. "It's a slippery slope when you decide it's okay to get away with something because it's 'just this one time.' Next thing you know, she's skipping these tutoring sessions altogether and hanging out with an unsavory crowd and getting into drugs and drinking alcohol."

"I think that's a little extreme."

"Perhaps, but I prefer to stop that kind of behavior before it has a chance to lead my daughter down a bad path."

Carmina entered the dining room then, carrying a tray in her hands. She shot Danny a dirty look but quickly schooled her expression as she walked over to where her employer sat. Danny half expected Mr. Masters to have a fancy meal, but instead it was a simple lunch of a turkey sandwich and tomato soup with a glass of water. It hardly seemed like something a wealthy billionaire would eat.

"Thank you, Carmina," Mr. Masters said as he picked up his napkin. "Please give Sasha my thanks as well."

Carmina bowed then twisted on her heel and strode out of the dining room. Mr. Masters placed the napkin over his lap, but before he began his meal, he turned to Danny.

"Please." The man gestured to the chair beside him. "If you're not going to eat, at the very least take a seat and rest until Elle returns."

Danny hesitated, wishing he had somehow escaped to Elle's room to wait there without Mr. Masters noticing his presence. With a resigned sigh, he laid out his broken skateboard on the table then sat down, dropping his bag to rest next to the chair. When he glanced toward the man, he saw the pointed glare at the skateboard and swallowed.

"Ah, sorry." Danny gathered up the pieces then tried to cram them into his bag so they would be out of sight. "Just a minor accident. But I'm okay." If by okay, he meant having suffered a minor heart attack because of the speeding car nearly hitting him. _I didn't even get to thank that man!_ He wanted to kick himself when he realized that. The mystery man had vanished before he even got the chance.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. But I hardly think it's a good idea to be riding around on something so dangerous." Mr. Masters ate his lunch with impeccable table manners, which made Danny feel like a slob when it came to eating. He dabbed at his mouth then laid his napkin over his lap again. "Fenton. Your parents are scientists, are they not?" His curious gaze rested on Danny, who sat up straighter.

"Huh? I mean, yeah - Yes!" Danny swallowed nervously. "They do mostly private work. Sometimes they get a contract with the government for special projects."

Mr. Masters nodded. "I've kept up with some of their research."

"You have?" Danny's eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets in surprise.

"Of course! I like to keep up with all the latest developments in the scientific field." Mr. Masters stared like he was surprised Danny hadn't realized that fact. "And we happened to go to college together. I like to follow along with what sort of research they're working on now."

Danny's mouth worked up and down a few times as his brain struggled to digest this news. "You went to college with my parents?"

An amused smirk played across the man's face. "That's what I just said, isn't it? We worked on a few projects together and shared our findings." His expression turned wistful. "Those were good days."

"So how come you've never visited before?" Danny flushed when Mr. Masters glanced toward him. "I mean, um, since you knew my parents back then, um - Did you not stay friends?"

"Ah, well, you know." Mr. Masters shrugged, and the corners of his mouth turned downward. "After graduation, we went our separate ways. That's just life sometimes."

"Oh." Danny wasn't sure what else he should say. "I guess that makes sense."

The door opened then slammed shut again. Mr. Masters frowned as he set his napkin down on the table. Danny twisted around his seat as the man stood. Elle passed by the doorway to the dining room, but when her father cleared his throat, Elle backtracked then entered the room with a wince.

"You didn't think it polite to call and inform your tutor that you would be late?" Mr. Masters questioned, folding his arms behind his back. Elle opened her mouth to respond, but her father continued before she could speak even a single word. "I thought you were finally getting serious about your studies. Did you think improving your grades a little meant you could start slacking off again?"

"That's not-"

"If you're not going to take this seriously," Mr. Masters said, narrowing his eyes sharply to silence his daughter's protests, "maybe you should stop wasting this young man's time."

Danny shifted awkwardly in his chair as he tried to think of something to say to defuse the situation. Elle curled her hands into fists, and her jaw clenched tightly like she was holding back the urge to explode angrily at her father. After a tense moment, Elle stomped over to him and grabbed Danny by the arm. He barely had time to grab his bag before Elle was dragging him out of the room.

"Then I guess we better get started on that tutoring," Elle snapped at her father.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Danny winced as they headed up the stairs. "Are you trying to pull my arm off?" In comparison, the mechanical arm was much stronger, and violent, than Elle, but Danny was still glad his shoulder had healed since the incident at Axion Labs.

"Sorry," Elle mumbled once they reached the top of the stairs. She released her hold on his wrist then hugged her arms around her waist. Dark bags were under her eyes, like she had spent the entire night up and still hadn't gotten a moment's rest.

"Hey." Danny touched her arm as he frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes! No! I don't know!" Elle sighed and rubbed at her tired eyes. "You remember when you first came over for a tutoring session? And I told you about Ember?" Once Danny nodded, Elle continued, "Well, she didn't show up for school yesterday, so I went to her house to see if maybe she stayed home sick, but her parents didn't even realize she hadn't gone to school. So I was out all night checking with places I knew she hung out and where her friends usually hung out, but no one knew where she was. And I'm really worried that something's happened to her."

Danny could see the concern in her eyes, and he doubted Elle would be able to focus on studying while she was worried about her friend. "Why don't you go freshen up, if you want, and grab your study stuff? We can talk about the material while walking around town and looking for clues about what happened to your friend."

Elle blinked in surprise. "What? Really? You don't mind?"

"If it was my friend, I would want to be out there looking too." Danny imagined Tucker or Sam vanishing without a trace, and the thought scared him. "Now hurry up and get ready to go." He nudged her down the hall toward her bedroom. Elle jogged away, and Danny was left standing alone at the top of the stairs. He took a seat on the top stair and leaned back on his arms as he waited for Elle to return.

Why did it feel like some crazy force was at work ever since the incident at Axion Labs? He had his accident then the robbery at the facility Sam's parents owned, which was followed by the explosion at school that put Mr. Technus into a coma. Now Elle's friend was missing? Maybe he was only noticing so bad many things happening at once because they were connected to his life in some way. The news always had stories about crimes happening around town, but they were simply background noise for the most part while he did his homework. A jewelry store got robbed? That didn't have any effect on his life. An apartment building in the downtown area of Amity Park had a fire? He didn't visit the downtown area often.

Elle returned a few moments later, looking better than she had when she returned home. "All right, teach. Let's go!" She poked him in the back with the toe of her shoe.

Danny stood and followed her down the stairs and to the front door. "So where do you want to start looking?"

Elle sighed as they left her home. "I don't even know." She shook her head, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. "I've already looked pretty much everywhere I can think of that Ember would have gone."

Danny pondered while they walked down the street. Where would he go if he was a teenage woman who wanted nothing more than to become a famous singer? "Are there any clubs she would try to get a gig at?"

"I spent half the night checking out the club scene, but no one had seen her." Elle reached up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

Danny wondered if he should have let Elle stay home and get some rest. If she was out all night searching for her friend, she would be ready to crash any moment now. "Okay. So the club scene is out." His mouth pressed thin as his gaze darted about the street, keeping alert for any woman with bright blue hair. "There hasn't been any strange people hanging around her lately, has there?"

Elle shrugged with a worry knit her brow. "I can't really say. We hang out sometimes, sure, and I know some of her friends, but I don't know everything that goes on in her life. If she met someone, she wouldn't necessarily tell me about it. But none of her friends told me anything about her hanging out with someone new."

Finding Ember wasn't sounding like it would be an easy task. "Um, well-" Danny scratched the back of his head. "Do you have a picture of her? Maybe we can just wander around town and show off her picture to people. Someone must have seen her."

"Yeah! Actually I do." Elle dug around in her bag until she found a folded piece of paper. When she flattened it out, it showed an image of Ember much like the poster in Elle's bedroom.

They walked around, stopping people and asking if they had seen Ember sometime in the past day. During lulls in their search, they discussed various subjects Elle was studying in school, which helped make the time seem to pass faster. They had little luck finding any hint of Ember's whereabouts. It was like she had simply disappeared from Amity Park. But that didn't make any sense. How could she vanish without anyone seeing anything or any clues left behind?

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Elle said, breaking up the conversation they were having. "I just don't understand what could have happened to Ember. She had no reason to just run away. At least, I never thought she did."

"Hey, it's okay." Danny placed a hand on Elle's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "It's only natural to worry about someone you care about when they suddenly disappear without a word."

"Yeah," Elle mumbled, and her gaze looked distant, like she was thinking of something else entirely.

"Maybe-" Danny pondered over ideas for what could have happened to Ember. "Maybe she got a gig in another town so she skipped out on school yesterday to drive over there. And she just didn't think to tell anyone about it."

"I guess that could have happened." But Elle's expression looked doubtful despite the plausibility of the story.

Danny sighed internally, wishing he was better at cheering up his friends. "I'm sure if we keep looking, we'll-" Growling cut off what he was about to say. They stared at each other for a moment before they both darted for the entrance of the narrow alley between two buildings.

"Stupid mutt!" The boy with wavy brown hair sneered and tossed a rock at the dog before him. The dog avoided being hit and growled again, its heckles raised and teeth bared. If the young boy wasn't careful, the dog would strike, and from the looks of its teeth, the dog would leave a nasty scar if it got a hold of the boy.

"Hey!" Danny shouted, anger thrumming through his veins. His eyes threatened to shift to green, and he had to pull back his rage, as difficult as it was. The boy turned at the call. A dark smear of dirt covered his left cheek. He cursed under his breath and ran, skirting around the still growling dog.

"What kind of kid harasses a dog?" Elle scoffed at the boy's behavior.

"I don't know," Danny admitted in a mumble. If he had stuck around, the boy probably would have given them some sort of excuse for his behavior. But Danny wouldn't have accepted any of it for the boy's cruel behavior. Carefully, he approached the dog, moving slowly and holding out his hand. "It's okay," he said when the dog turned toward him and growled. "I'm not going to hurt you like that mean boy."

"Danny, maybe you should be careful," Elle warned anxiously as she kept her distance from a potentially dangerous dog.

After some hesitation and a few more angry growls, the dog inched forward and gave Danny's hand a tentative sniff. Then the dog barked and licked at his fingers. With a laugh, Danny scratched behind the dog's ears.

"You're a good dog, aren't you? When mean boys aren't throwing rocks at you." Danny grinned when the dog barked in answer. He turned and glanced over his shoulder at Elle. "See? Nothing to be worried about."

"You're pretty good with animals." Elle crouched down beside him and let the dog sniff at her hand.

"I always wanted a puppy when I was a kid, but my parents would never let me get one." Danny smiled a little sadly.

"Hey, he doesn't have a collar on him." Elle searched around the dog's neck. "I guess he's a stray."

"I wish I could take him home. He seems like a good dog." Danny gave the dog one last pat on the head then he stood. "I guess we should keep looking for your friend." He hoped that boy wouldn't come back once they left to continue his harassment of the dog.

"Yeah," Elle agreed in a mumble. Then she repeated it with a little more enthusiasm. "Yeah! We're going to find a clue!"

They left the dog in the alley as they went to continue searching for Ember. Danny, however, didn't miss the dog following behind them with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his tail wagging happily behind him.

* * *

**The freedom girl**: But that would spoil things~ Well, not too many ghosts hanging around in Amity Park. XD;; That Danny knows of~ Haha. *shot* XD;;

**midnight**: Good thing someone was there to stop Danny from becoming a Dannycake!

**Mischievious Kiss27**: Ah! Now he just needs to appear for longer than a short cameo! *shoves Dan and Danny*

**Tetractys**: Who knows? 8) Dan is so mysterious! More of a chance meeting. XD;;

**DB-KT**: XD Right~ Now we just need to have him run into Danny again.

**ECTOglo**: I'm still trying to figure something out for Kwan! Because I love him to pieces~ I couldn't help it. XD When I was planning out the story, I thought it would be cool to give Danny more of that ghostly appearance. Might make him a little harder to identify? XD;; So many questions! All of which will be answered in the future~ XD Well, except I haven't figured out Wulf or Frostbite for being in the story. Yet.

**kirahphantom**: I think some people have asked that. XD All I can is: Only time will tell~


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

They didn't find any clues about Ember's whereabouts. By the time they returned to her home, Elle's shoulders were slumped, and discouragement showed in her blue eyes. Danny couldn't think of anything to say after Elle spent a whole day searching for her missing friend. Saying something like "you'll find her" or "someone must have seen her" seemed kind of empty when they found no hint of Ember all day.

Danny felt guilty accepting any payment for tutoring. They talked about her studies during their time together, but Elle's mind was mostly focused on Ember. Danny managed to convince her to only pay him for a third of the usual amount for his time. He knew Tucker would call him crazy for turning down so much money, but Danny couldn't accept it in good conscience. He wished he could have done more to help Elle find Ember, but they had little to point them in the right direction.

The dog continued to follow them after they left the alley where they found him, and a quick check confirmed the dog was indeed male. Danny stopped in a convenient store they passed to pick up some dog treats and fed the dog some as they walked around town. While they talked, Danny came up with the idea, since the dog didn't seem to have an owner, to call him Cujo. The dog approved with a happy bark. Even though he didn't seem to have an owner, Cujo showed he knew a few tricks, which suggested someone might have owned him at some point. Danny could hold up a hand with the promise of a treat, and Cujo would immediately sit and fall silent, though his tail would wag crazily in his excitement. Having Cujo around actually proved to be an asset because more people stopped to talk with them as they wanted to pet the cute, friendly dog.

"He would be the perfect dog too," Danny said with a sigh after he finished retelling of his Saturday after lunch to Sam. The moment his parents mentioned they would be going out for the evening, Danny called Sam up to come over so they could sneak into his parents' laboratory. Jazz hadn't come home yet from tutoring, or maybe some volunteer project. It was always hard to keep up with her schedule. "But of course, my parents won't let me adopt him." A frown settled upon his face as he picked the lock.

"Did you even ask them?" Sam leaned against the wall beside the door with her arms folded, like she was keeping look out in case Danny's parents came back and caught them. His parents said they wouldn't return home until much later that evening. But it would be good to be alert in case Jazz came home.

"Well," Danny winced as he lifted his head to glance at Sam, "I kind of figured they would say no since that was what they always said before."

"Yeah, because you were eight back then." Sam rolled her eyes. "They probably just didn't want to be the ones having to take care of the dog when you slacked off on the responsibility of caring for a pet. You're way more mature and responsible now. They might actually say yes this time."

The lock clicked open, and Danny stood, tucking away his lock picking tools. Sam did make a certain amount of sense. If he actually sat down to think of things from his parents perspective, he could understand why they might not be so keen on getting an irresponsible eight year old a dog. But he had matured over the years, and if he were given the chance to own a dog, he would take care of it.

"Maybe I'll ask them later." Danny pushed open the door with a grin. "But we have other things to focus on right now." He led the way into the laboratory, and when they hit the bottom of the stairs, Sam gasped. Her expression of awe was much like the way Danny felt every time he came down into the laboratory to find his parents' latest project.

"I can't believe you've never told us about this." Sam walked over to one of the tables and bent over as she examined the vials and tubes filled with brightly colored liquid. While his parents were focused on their research on ghosts and the uses of ectoplasm, they worked on plenty of other projects too.

"It was really tempting," Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked over to a different table. "Especially when I read that my parents thought ectoplasm could be used for a continuously recyclable energy source. If they could figure out a way to obtain enough ectoplasm and get their Ecto-Converter to work and it doesn't harm the environment like carbon emissions, it could be a really big step in changing the world. But," he sighed as he pulled out a needle from his pocket, "obtaining real ectoplasm is hard, and my parents don't trust any sort of synthesized version. And they haven't worked out all the kinks for the Ecto-Converter."

"At least your parents are actually working on something for helping the environment," Sam grumbled, pulling herself away from the table. "My parents just put on a show about caring for the environment." She held up her hands before Danny could say anything. "I know. We aren't here to talk about my poor relationship with my parents. We're here to figure out just what happened to you. Assuming that we can." She lifted an eyebrow at the needle in Danny's hand. "Do a lot of sewing?"

Danny blinked then frowned. "My dad taught me. And joke all you want, but sewing can be a very handy skill."

"Wait. Wait." Sam bit her lower lip, holding back a laugh. "Don't tell me you sewed all your Halloween costumes."

"Tucker and I made them together." Danny frowned as Sam struggled not to dissolve into laughter. "Anyway," he said forcibly, "this little baby," he patted a machine on the table that was hooked up to a computer, "is the FentAnlyzer."

"Really?" Sam snorted at the name.

"Hey! I wasn't the one that picked the name," Danny protested. He sighed when Sam folded her arms and gave him a pointed stare. "Yeah, okay. I make up some pretty bad names too. But this time, it was all my dad. The point is, I can just put a few drops of blood in here." He popped open a small slide that ejected from the side. "And it'll analyze the sample. My parents use it mostly for ectoplasm samples, but normal blood should work in it too."

Sam nodded as her violet eyes flicked over the equipment. Then her brow pinched the way it did when she was having an internal debate about something. "Do you think it makes a difference if we run the blood sample while you're human or while you're, uh, whatever you are in that other form?"

Danny paused with his finger hovering over the slide. He stared at his finger, the tip of the needle barely pressing into the pad, as he pondered the question for a good minute. "Maybe we should take samples from both," he decided, lifting his gaze to his friend. "We can compare them to see if there's any difference." When the needle pierced his flesh, he flinched as a small bead of blood welled up from the puncture. He squeezed out a few drops onto the slide then he wrapped a Band-Aid around the finger.

"So is this it?"

Danny lifted his head as he pushed the slide back in and the machine gave a whir as it processed the sample. Sam had moved away to explore the laboratory and now stood before the yellow and black striped doors. Danny shuddered when his eyes landed on the doors, recalling vividly the last time he was in the laboratory. Sam must have noticed his reaction because she frowned in concern.

"Nightmares?" she questioned gently.

Danny sighed and scratched a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I just can't seem to shake them. Luckily, they haven't been the wake up screaming in the middle of the night kind, but they're still pretty bad."

"I guess that's to be expected." Sam walked back over to him and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Anyone else who had that sort of experience would probably be having nightmares too."

"How was Tucker?" Danny asked, not wanting to dwell on his nightmares of being electrocuted all over again. "You know, after I left yesterday."

"He seemed a little better, but he's still down about what happened to Mr. Technus." Sam leaned against the table as she sighed. "If he didn't have that phobia of hospitals, he probably would have gone to see how Mr. Technus was doing."

"Maybe we can pay a visit for him and give him the news afterward," Danny suggested as he opened the slide on the FentAnalyzer when it dinged to tell him it was ready to take a new sample. He changed forms, shaking his head lightly at the orange jeans. "Well, time to test sample number two." He poked the pad of his middle finger this time.

"That's, uh, different." Sam leaned in as Danny did to stare at the bright green substance beading from his finger. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that accident definitely did something to you."

Danny glared flatly, a sharp retort nearly falling from his mouth because it was obvious even before seeing the green blood that the accident had altered him. But at least now he had definitive proof of the change to his DNA. His mouth pulled into a thin frown as the green blood dripped onto the slide.

"You know, it kind of reminds me of ectoplasm," Danny admitted, recalling the container from the machine he had taken after the accident. It only had a small amount of ectoplasm left in it, but he wondered if he should grab it from his room and compare a sample from it to the sample of his blood.

Sam stared at him for a long moment as Danny pushed the slide back into the machine and bandaged his finger. "So," she broke the silence, "what got your parents into this whole ghost thing anyway? And how long have you been a genius when it comes to ectoplasm?"

Danny pondered, rubbing the back of his neck as he reverted back to human. "Well, my parents seem to have always had an interest in ghosts and studying ectoplasm. I didn't really get into the whole thing until I was about seven and learned how to pick locks from my aunt."

"I still can't believe you've managed to keep all of this," Sam waved an arm at the laboratory, "a secret from us for so long."

"You tried to keep being rich a secret," Danny reminded. "Did you really think Tucker and I would only like you for the money?"

"I just didn't want to turn into one of those snobby, think I'm better than everyone else rich girls." Sam moved toward the computer monitor hooked up to the FentAnlyzer. "Oh, looks like you got something for your regular blood already."

Danny turned to the monitor, his blue eyes flicking over the information on the screen. "Looks like everything's okay there." He frowned slightly as the FentAnlyzer read that the blood sample came from him. The analysis didn't show much else that would cause concern.

"I want to say that makes sense," Sam's brow creased, "but none of this really makes any sense. On the bright side, though, at least if you have to go to the hospital or something, they won't be able to tell anything from your blood work. So your powers should at least be safe from discovery that way."

"I hadn't even thought about that." Danny breathed out a sigh, standing up straighter as he ran a hand through his raven locks. "That is a relief though." Now that it was on his mind, he could imagine a team of men in suits with dark sunglasses swarming into his hospital room and carting him off to some top secret location for experimentation and dissection. The idea made him feel cold inside, but that thought made the relief of his blood appearing normal when human all the greater.

The analysis of the second sample took only a few more minutes to complete before the information appeared upon the screen. They both leaned in to read what was displayed on the monitor. Danny felt a little green in the face, even without transforming.

"That says ectoplasm," Sam said.

"Yeah." Danny's hand shook as he placed it on the mouse then scrolled down to examine the chart at the bottom. That weird other form he could change into had blood made of ectoplasm. His throat felt tight when he tried to swallow. Did that mean his other form was a ghost? In some ways, it made sense to him. The machine had used ectoplasm when it activated, though it had failed to function properly and create a portal to the realm where ghosts reside. The accident had also caused him to be struck dozens of times by electricity, an incident which _should_ have killed him. But how was he still alive? And why did he have a ghost form?

"What are you two doing down here?"

Danny jumped at the voice as the trembling running through his body stilled while every muscle grew tight with panic. Slowly, cautiously, he turned around to meet the stern glare of his sister. Jazz stood a few feet away from them with her arms folded and one foot tapping impatiently upon the floor.

"Uh," Danny said cleverly as he fought to think of some excuse to give his sister, "I thought you were out tutoring or something." He cringed internally, knowing that statement hardly helped the situation.

"And now I'm home." Jazz dropped her arms as she closed the distance between them. "But you didn't answer my question. You know you're not supposed to come down into the lab."

"We weren't going to mess with any of Mom and Dad's stuff. We were just-"

"Using the FentAnlyzer?" Jazz glared, and Danny shrank back, feeling like he was six again and being scolded for breaking one of the lamps by accident. His sister turned her gaze onto the computer screen, and after a few minutes, she frowned. "Where did you get this sample? It's not one of Mom and Dad's."

"What?" Danny looked over the analysis reading again. "Hey, you're right." It had the usual basic markers of a sample of ectoplasm, but the other markers would probably be classified as anomalies by his parents, at the very least proving this sample didn't come from their stock. Was it because it was mixed with his DNA? Or was something else at work here?

"I guess knowing about ectoplasm runs in the family," Sam said, one corner of her mouth pulling into an amused smirk.

Jazz huffed as she stood up straight. "It's ridiculous to believe in such nonsense as ghosts. They don't exist."

"Right." Danny grinned. "So why do you know so much about ectoplasm then? You wouldn't have known this wasn't a sample from Mom and Dad if you hadn't studied it even a little."

Jazz's cheeks turned slightly pink. "I like to be informed about things, even if I don't believe in their existence. How do you expect to make a rational argument if you don't understand both sides? That's basic debate knowledge."

"Yeah, but to learn about it, you would have had to sneak down here sometimes," Danny pointed out with a smirk.

"Did you think you were the only one Aunt Alicia taught to pick locks?" Jazz cocked an eyebrow at him with the tiniest bit of a grin. "But you two, out. Now. No more messing around in the lab." She pointed toward the stairs.

"Still want to be in our family?" Danny asked in a murmur to Sam.

"I'd still take Jazz over my parents any day of the week," Sam answered. "Jazz, at least, doesn't try to control you and turn you into a little puppet in a pink dress." She made a face like she was about to vomit.

Danny chuckled as he deleted the sample reports from the FentAnlyzer so his parents wouldn't find them and know that they had been in the laboratory. Then all three of them left the laboratory.

* * *

**Tetractys**: Something is definitely amiss in Amity Park right now. 8D;;; I actually meant to bring Cujo in earlier! XD;;; But it never felt like the right timing until the previous chapter.

**midnight**: Damn it, Vlad! Give your daughter a break! D:

**kirahphantom**: That was most definitely Cujo. XD

**coopt98**: Cujo, indeed! 8D Hm~ What could be going on? And who could be behind it? 8)

**The freedom girl**: Adorable little Cujo! 8D I'm sure they'll get a clue at some point as to what happened to Ember.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"I can't believe something like this would happen here."

Danny paused in the middle of smearing strawberry jam on his toast to look over at his mother. She had the newspaper spread out before her on the kitchen table while both his parents read over one of the news articles. His parents wore a troubled crease in their brow. Danny carried his breakfast over to the table and sat down in his usual chair.

"What's happened now?" Danny lifted his toast to take a bite.

"A murder," his father answered with his usual cheer absent from his tone. "An employee from Axion Labs was found with his head chopped off in his apartment last night."

"A terrible thing." His mother shook her head. "The witness was pretty unreliable too. A man who had drunk so much last night he could barely see two feet in front of him claims to have seen a man leaving the apartment with blood stains on his full bodied suit. Says the man even wore a mask."

"Like Police Chief Gray didn't have enough unsolved cases to deal with already." His father sighed as he folded up the newspaper. "The robbery at the Manson's facility. Then the explosion at the high school." He turned his worried blue eyes onto Danny. "I'm just glad you and Jazz didn't get hurt while you were at the game."

With a mouthful of toast, Danny blinked at his father, the words taking a moment to catch up to him. "Wait. I thought - Ow!" Danny winced as he felt a smack to the back of his head.

"Come on, slowpoke. How long does it take you to finish breakfast?" Jazz stood behind him with her bag thrown over her shoulder and ready to head to school.

Danny frowned but hurried to finish up his breakfast. When he was done, he carried his dishes over to the sink then grabbed his bag. "Someone's in a hurry to get to school." He nudged his sister with an elbow as they headed toward the front door.

"Be careful!" their mother called from the kitchen.

"Keep clear of any leftover wreckage from the explosion," their father added.

Danny rolled his eyes, but he and Jazz both called back a goodbye before stepping out of the house. "So you told Mom and Dad you were going to the game last Friday?" His eyebrow lifted in question as they walked toward her car. "What was that about tutoring or club projects or whatever? Where did you _really_ go on Friday?"

"I had something to do." Jazz shrugged then unlocked the car doors.

Danny's mouth pursed as he watched his sister climb into the car. He didn't like the idea of his sister keeping secrets from him. But who was he to complain? He had a huge secret of his own he was keeping from her. Releasing a sigh, he decided to drop the topic for now. If his sister wanted to tell him, Danny believed she would in her own time. He climbed into the passenger seat, and Jazz turned the key in the ignition as her brother buckled up.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school," Danny said, leaning back in his seat. "There was an explosion at school. You'd think they'd shut down for that or something."

Jazz snorted and glanced his way as she drove them to school. "Did you think you'd get a year off from school while they worked on repairs?" She shook her head, auburn hair swishing around her shoulders. "You do know that would mean being held back a year, right? Which means going to college a year late, which means entering the job market a year late. You realize that the economy and job market aren't a stable thing, right? It might be good now, but wasting a year might land you during a time when jobs aren't so easy to come by."

"Yeah, but you could just as easily argue that the job market could improve in a year."

"Do you want to risk it?" Jazz shot a pointed glare his way. "Anyway, they'll probably just close off that section of the school and relocate the classes to spare rooms or even the cafeteria or the gym if there aren't any empty classrooms to use during those periods."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Danny waved off his sister's comment. Naturally she would know about stuff like that. He sighed as he slid down a bit in his seat, waiting for them to arrive at school.

After Sam left last night, Danny had tried to ask his parents about maybe adopting the stray dog he found while he was out with Elle. His parents didn't look too thrilled by the idea of getting a dog, but his father said they would think about it. Danny decided to believe it meant he had a slim chance of them saying yes in the future. At least it wasn't an outright no this time.

Danny wasn't sure if he should mention it, but after some debate, his curiosity won out. Jazz had already gone to her bedroom to finish up some studying before calling it a night. His mother had some laundry she wanted to fold and put away. This left Danny and his father alone in the front room to talk in private. Danny decided to be blunt and ask his question directly.

"So you were friends with Mr. Masters in college?" Danny glanced out the corner of his eye while he worked on a last section of his homework.

His father blinked in surprise, pausing as he tinkered with something. "Oh, you mean V-man!" He grinned widely, his dark blue eyes going distant for a moment like he was recalling memories long forgotten. "We had some good times back then. We were roommates even."

Danny jerked his head around to stare, wide eyed, at his father. "Roommates?" Mr. Masters hadn't mentioned that when they spoke the other day.

"Oh sure! For most of college. Me, V-man, and Maddie were all part of a club during college. We worked on a lot of projects together and discussed ideas about various things. Though I guess a lot of it always came back to ghosts."

Danny sat there numbly, taking in the fact that his parents were friends, at least for a time, with Mr. Masters, billionaire and president of Axion Labs, who was featured in numerous magazines. "So what happened?" he blurted out, and his father stared him with a confused wrinkle in his brow. "Uh, I mean, if you were such good friends with him in college, why didn't you stay friends?"

His father shrugged. "Well, people grow apart, I guess." Then he frowned like the question troubled him. "Vlad never really gave a reason. He got angry one day and stormed out of the lab. And that was it."

From the pain in his eyes, Danny could tell the end of their friendship had really hurt his father. But that was the end of their conversation as his father got up with an excuse of needing to check on something in the laboratory. Danny still couldn't imagine his parents and Mr. Masters in college, all hanging out with each other.

Jazz parked the car in the school lot, and Danny sighed as he undid his seatbelt. Another wonderful day of high school! At least some of the bullying had lightened up, but Danny nearly groaned out loud when he remembered he still hadn't thought of something to get Kwan as a thank you for all his help.

"Do you have anything after school today?" Danny asked as they climbed out of the car. "I might go to the hospital with Sam to see if they can tell us anything about Mr. Technus' condition. Tucker's been pretty depressed about it."

"Yeah, I was planning on tutoring Dash tonight." Jazz brushed a lock of hair back behind an ear as she frowned. "I still can't believe something like that would happen at our school. And they still can't figure out what caused the explosion. It wasn't like there was a gas leak anywhere. They checked after the explosion to make sure it would be safe for us to return to school, and they found no sign of anything harmful in the school."

Danny shoved his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. "Well, I'm sure Valerie's dad will figure out what happened." He frowned when he caught the pinch in his sister's brow. "What? Why are you making that face?"

"You don't know?" Jazz lifted her eyebrows, surprise gracing her face as she turned to him. "Walker has been gunning for the position of Chief of Police. One wrong move by Valerie's dad could give Walker the chance to steal his job."

"How nice of you to talk about other people's parents behind their back." Valerie rammed her shoulder into Danny as she passed him toward the door into school.

"Hey, we weren't-"

"Val, we didn't mean it to sound like that," Jazz said calmly. "We were talking about the explosion last Friday. We know your father is doing everything he can to find out what happened."

"Of course he is." Valerie huffed, folding her arms. "I wish some _other_ people would realize that."

"No one wants Walker for Police Chief anyway," Kwan said, tossing a football in his hands. "The guy is all about the rules. If he was made Police Chief, it would be a nightmare for the rest of us. He would probably enforce some lame curfew for teenagers. Especially if he could find some rule listed about it somewhere."

"Ugh!" Valerie shuddered like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. "Don't talk about Walker. I hate that guy!" She turned around and yanked open the door to the school.

"Ah!" The woman on the other side blinked then smiled widely. "I thought I heard some voices out here."

Danny's gaze swept over the woman, who was rather impossible to miss in her bright red dress suit. Her clothing was only outdone by her red hair, which was pulled back in the oddest style Danny had ever seen. On _anyone_. If she was going for some sinister demonic horn look, she nailed it.

"I'm Penelope Spectra. New counselor." Her sharp green eyes flicked over the four of them, and the way her mouth stretched to one side in a crooked grin didn't inspire much trust, in Danny's opinion. "If you ever have anything you'd like to discuss, my door will always be open." Her gaze fell upon Valerie. "You look like you have something troubling you. Would you like to go to my office and discuss it?"

"Uh, no, that's okay." Valerie shied away from the woman. "I need to get stuff from my locker." She grabbed Kwan's arm and hurried past the woman into the school.

"Yeah, I've got stuff to talk to my friends about," Danny said. "See you later, Jazz!" He gave his sister a wave as he darted into the school. If Ms. Spectra was a counselor, Jazz would probably get along well with her. They could talk about psychology and all that head stuff Danny hated when his sister decided to analyze everything about him. He heard a sigh to his right and paused halfway down the hall to find Lancer. "Something wrong?" He walked over to his teacher.

"Ah, it's nothing really." But Lancer wore a frown as he folded his arms over his potbelly. "Principal Ishiyama thought it would be a good idea to bring in a counselor to talk to students after what happened on Friday during the game. She's supposed to have really good references and is apparently a top counselor."

"But you don't like her?" Danny guessed.

Lancer turned his gaze onto his student, and his frown deepened. "I don't know much about her. But she's been approaching every student she can find to convince them to talk with her. You can't force someone to confide in you. If students want to talk to someone about something, they'll come to her when they're ready."

"Well, no offense to her, but you're still my number one if I want to talk to a teacher about something."

A fond smile spread onto Lancer's face. "I do appreciate that. I'm always willing to help out my students when it's needed."

Danny grinned. "I should probably get ready for class."

"Oh, yes," Lancer's smile turned to a more amused one, "wouldn't want to anger Mr. Green by being tardy."

Danny groaned, shoulders sagging at the mention of Mr. Green. "See you in class!" He parted ways with his teacher and headed off to find his friends.

Danny made it to his locker with only one minor incident in which Dash gave him a little jostle, naturally wanting to preserve his title of king of the school. But it was more like rough housing than actually trying to beat the snot out of him. Kwan clearly could tell when Dash was acting the role of a bully since he didn't feel it necessary to jump in and stop it. Danny did note that Dash still kept away from causing any further harm to the shoulder injured at Axion Labs, even though it had healed up during the accident in his parents' laboratory.

"So are we going to hit the hospital today after school?" Danny twisted the lock to the right combination then yanked open his locker to grab some books.

"What?" Tucker let out a squeak, paling several shades at the mention of a hospital.

"Not you, of course." Danny patted his friend on the back. "We just want to check in to see how Mr. Technus is doing for you."

"Oh." Tucker relaxed. "That's awesome of you." He grinned, though he still looked a little queasy.

Sam groaned, leaning against the lockers. "I wish I could! My mom," she ground it out like she was ready to claw out some eyeballs, which made Danny inch away from her, "is forcing me to attend dinner with that stupid Gregor."

"Gregor?" Tucker's brow furrowed. "Do I know this Gregor?"

Sam shook her head. "He's just some son of the president of another company. He talks with this really fake Hungarian accent."

"Yikes!" Tucker cringed. "I can't imagine that dinner going well."

"Stuck for an evening with her parents _and_ some guy she doesn't care about?" Danny chuckled. "Yeah, that's not going to be a fun time."

"I'm so glad my misery amuses you." Sam glared darkly at them. "Say," she forced a smile onto her face as she sidled up to Danny, "you wouldn't want-"

"Sorry," Danny answered before she could complete the question. "That's not a dinner I want to sit through. Anyway, I think I'll still hit the hospital to check on Mr. Technus." Danny frowned in apology when Sam huffed out a defeated sigh. Then he turned to Tucker. "So how does the robot look?"

Tucker sighed, casting his green eyes to the floor. "It could be better. It got pretty messed up in the explosion. But we might be able to fix it up in time for the contest's deadline. But we also have to find a new teacher to oversee the club." He lifted his gaze and looked toward his friends. "I might have to spend a lot of time on the robot though."

"Jazz would probably remind you not to forget about doing your homework." Danny grinned as he closed his locker. "Don't worry about it though. We know that robot is important to you." Tucker returned the smile, seeming to relax. When the bell rang to signal the beginning of the school day, the three friends gave a mix of sighs and groans. Then they split up for class, promising to meet each other for lunch like usual.

* * *

**midnight**: I wish I had a dog like Cujo! Be all small and cuddly then if someone tries to break in or something, he could turn all big and scary. Jazz has her moments of sneakiness. XD

**kirahphantom**: I swear to you, Dan does exist in this world and he will be coming up. Trust me! I'm feeling impatient about his long arrival too. XD I just want to dive into him already being in the story.

**The freedom girl**: He might get lucky and get to adopt Cujo! XD It seems so obvious in retrospect, doesn't it? XD But now they have proof about it.

**HawkeyeLover**: Hi again! =) And don't worry! School's more important! Mwahaha, yes, that was indeed Dan! 8D


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Well, that was a fun trip," Danny said as he stepped out of the hospital. Doctor Sagami, with his obnoxiously perfectly slicked back raven hair, thin rimmed glasses, and pencil thin mustache, wouldn't allow him to see Mr. Technus, though that didn't surprise Danny since they were only allowing family visits. He couldn't remember ever hearing anything about Mr. Technus having family, but the teacher must have some still living somewhere. Unfortunately for Tucker, Danny didn't get much information from Doctor Sagami beyond what they already knew: Mr. Technus was in a coma but his condition was stable.

Pulling out his phone, Danny checked the time and winced at how late in the afternoon it was. The ride to the hospital on the bus had taken longer than he thought, plus Doctor Sagami had left him waiting for a while before _finally_ coming to speak with him. He huffed out a sigh, deciding it would be all right since his homework load for the night wasn't too bad. But he was glad he didn't have to worry about squeezing in a tutoring session with Elle or a training session. Sam had the family dinner to suffer through with the fake Hungarian Gregor, and Tucker stayed after school to hunt down a new teacher to oversee the robotics club to avoid having to disband it and forfeit entirely on participating in the contest. Danny guessed, though, that he could train on his own, but he was still digesting what the whole ghost thing meant. He stared at his hand and could almost see it change to the strange sickly pale green of the ghost form, even if he hadn't transformed.

The phone buzzed, jolting Danny from his thoughts. He pulled up the text message menu, and a small smile spread onto his face as he clicked to read the latest response.

'_Did I lose you to the stars?_'

Shaking his head, Danny walked away from the hospital, heading for the nearest bus stop to catch a ride home.

'_Sorry about that. Got distracted by some things_.'

He barely got half way down the block before he received another message from D.

'_I guess I can forgive you. I had a job to do anyway, so had to go silent for a while_.'

Danny lifted an eyebrow as he stared at his phone. D had never mentioned having a job. Though, Danny realized, it had never come up in their prior conversations, which had revolved around mostly talking about video games they enjoyed and joking with each other.

'_Job? What kind of job do you have?_'

'_Oh, this was just a little headhunting for a client. Ran into some trouble tracking down the guy the client wanted_.'

Danny's brow furrowed at the response, not entirely sure what the whole headhunter job entailed. This was his first time ever hearing someone say they worked as a headhunter, but he thought it was something corporations sometimes did for one reason or another. He hit to respond to D's text when a chilly breeze washed over the back of his neck, a sensation he was growing more accustomed to since the accident. After he slipped the phone back into his pocket, paying more attention to his surroundings ever since he nearly got flattened by the speeding car, Danny turned a quarter of the way around, snatching hold of the arm reaching out toward him. His hand squeezed around the wrist and gave it a hard twist as he grabbed hold of the man's throat with his free hand. Then he drove the man back until he was pinned against the wall of the nearest building.

His Aunt Alicia lived in Spittoon, Arkansas, and she didn't often leave her home to visit them. But there were rare occasions, usually once a year, when she would come up to Amity Park, and sometimes, they would go to visit her. His father didn't get along well with his aunt, who didn't seem to care much for men after her divorce over a decade ago. Danny could remember, from a young age, watching his mother and aunt spar against each other. His mother was a ninth degree black belt. Danny wasn't sure if his aunt had ever earned a belt in any martial arts style, but she could hold her own against her sister. From watching two strong fighters, Danny knew a few methods to disarm an attacker.

It took a moment, though, for it to register that the man had no weapon and wasn't even trying to fight against him. Danny loosened his hold on the man but remained cautious. He didn't know this man with his long neon blue hair. The roots were showing on top of his head, the natural blond chasing away the dye. His brown eyes were wide and slightly frightful after being shoved against the wall.

"Uh, sorry," Danny mumbled, taking a step back. He felt a little ashamed of his reaction when the man raised his hands like he was being held up at gun point.

"I didn't mean to spook you," the man said, managing to keep his voice calm. "Um, I saw you the other day, um, Saturday with that girl. Your sister?"

Danny puzzled over the words for a moment. He hadn't gone anywhere on Saturday with Jazz. After hanging out with his friends for lunch, the rest of his day was spent with Elle. "Oh!" His eyes widened a fraction. "You mean Elle? She's not my sister."

"Oh." The man's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. You just looked so much alike, so I just assumed you were related."

Danny shook his head. "I just tutor her. Um," he rubbed at the back of his neck, "did you want something with me?"

"You were looking for people who might know something about what happened to Ember." The man's brown eyes slid off to the side as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I might have, uh, followed you around for a while."

"Okay." Danny inched back a step, feeling a little disturbed to hear that. "And you did that why?"

"Because I might know something about Ember."

Danny nodded, but he wondered how reliable this man was as a source of information. On the other hand, they had no other leads to follow so it might be worth it to listen to what the man had to say. "If you know something, why didn't you talk to us on Saturday?"

"I'll be honest with you. My name is Kyle, and I stalk Ember." Kyle's mouth pursed slightly in thought as he ran a hand through his dyed hair. "I guess it started about a year and a half ago after the first time I went to a club and heard her play. There was just something that drew me to her, so I started following her. I just," he shrugged, "never got up the nerve to actually talk to her. I've been idolizing her for so long, it's kind of scary to think about taking that next step to approaching her."

"It's kind of creepy that you stalk her though. That's definitely not going to win you any points with her." Danny felt a little bad when the man frowned, lowering his gaze in shame to the sidewalk. Kyle seemed normal enough, other than the whole stalking thing. If he stopped with that, Kyle might be an okay man. "But you saw what happened to her?"

"Maybe. You see. Last Wednesday, I saw Ember hanging out with these weird guys. Guys I've never seen around her before. I was too far away to hear what they were saying. I didn't want them to spot me or something. But," Kyle reached into the back pocket of his jeans, "after they all left, this dropped out of Ember's bag. I'm not sure what it's about, but one of the guy's gave it to her before they left."

Danny took the card Kyle handed him. The top side reminded him somewhat of a tarot card. The sides were bordered with bones and the corners with decorative flowers all on a field of black. In the center of the card, a grinning skull was surrounded by flowers, and a flower grew out of each eye socket. If it was a club logo, Danny didn't recognize it, but he also didn't hang out much at the club scene. Perhaps Elle would have a better idea. He flipped it over to find white writing, an address from the looks of it. The time and date under it was for tonight.

"You weren't stalking after me, were you?" Danny frowned at the man.

"No, no!" Kyle shook his head quickly. "Well, just from the bus stop when I spotted you earlier, but then you went into the hospital, so I waited until you came out to approach you."

"Try not to make it a habit of stalking people. It's kind of creepy." Danny stared at the design on the top side of the card. He didn't like the whole death motif it had.

"Do you think you can find Ember?" Kyle wore a hopeful expression pleading Danny for a positive response.

"I'm going to try my best to find her." Danny could see his response brought some relief to the man, but his real reason for being determined to find Ember was for Elle's benefit. He hated seeing Elle worrying so much about her friend. "Um, thanks for the tip." He held up the card then slipped it into his pocket. "Hopefully I can find out something about it."

"Thanks." Kyle bobbed his head, a faint smile growing upon his face. "Really. If you find her, thanks."

"Uh, yeah, no prob, man." Danny wasn't sure what else to say. How could he even be sure this man was telling him the truth? It could all be some sort of set up, but Danny decided he would check it out, in case it held a clue for Ember's whereabouts. "I should probably head off though. Stuff to do, you know."

"Right. I've got homework and other stuff." Kyle tossed him a wave before heading off down the street.

Danny watched him until Kyle turned the corner at the end of the block. At the idea of the man stalking after him, he shuddered and kept checking over his shoulder as he walked toward the bus stop. He hoped Kyle would give up his stalker ways after this. The bus arrived ten minutes after Danny reached the stop. Once he was seated in the back of the bus, Danny dug out his phone. Should he call Elle and inform her about this clue? He shook his head after some internal debate. He didn't want to get her hopes up if it turned out to be nothing.

The phone buzzed, and Danny jumped. Thankfully, not many other people were on the bus to witness his reaction. For a moment, he thought it would be Elle, somehow knowing he had a possible lead on Ember's whereabouts. But the notion sounded silly, and when he checked, he found a message was from D.

'_Did I scare you off? Because that was a joke. Totally talking about a game with the headhunting thing_.'

The corner of his mouth curled in a small smile. Danny debated his response, but D deserved some sort of explanation. After all, this was the second time something had interrupted them while they were chatting through texts.

'_Sorry! Sorry! Ran into someone and had to chat_.'

'_Should I be jealous?_'

Danny bit his lower lip as he typed back his reply.

'_No, no, nothing to be jealous about._ _It was just about a project_.'

'_Ah. Relating to why u said u'd be busy?_'

'_Yeah_.' Danny frowned because when he told D he would be too busy to play against him the game, he had no idea he would be spending time trying to track down a missing musician. '_I can't wait for it all to be over though. Then I can kick back and relax_.' The end of the school year seemed so far away.

'_I know what you mean. I can't wait for this job to be over with_.'

Danny stared at the phone screen. The mention of a job reminded him that they hadn't talked a lot outside their little comfort zone of conversation topics.

'_Hey, tell me something about yourself. Like, idk, what's your favorite color? Or do you have any pets?_'

'_Eh? Scraping the bottom of the barrel for those kumquats?_'

'_What?_'

'_Argh! Stupid auto-carrot. Water u doing?_'

A snort of a laugh escaped him, and Danny's face burned when he noticed a handful of the few people on the bus turn to give him the stink eye for making a sound.

'_Having some trouble typing? Are your fingers too big for the buttons?_'

'_They're not the only thing that's big. ;)_'

Danny nearly choked and hoped D didn't mean what he thought he did. At that moment, he was thankful D couldn't see him because he was certain his blush had darkened a few more shades.

'_Don't try to get around the question!_'

'_The answers aren't that interesting though. Favorite color? Boooooooring! I was never allowed to have pets. Not sure why_.'

Danny continued chatting with D until he reached his stop to get off the bus. According to the card Ember's stalker gave him, the meeting time wasn't until eleven, so even though he would have to head back downtown later, he planned to get home and do all his homework. Since his work load tonight wasn't too bad, he knew he could get it all done before leaving to see what this secret rendezvous was about. Already, the sky turned gray, and the air smelled of a coming rainstorm. Danny shivered as he unlocked the front door. It hadn't stormed since his accident in the laboratory, but the thought of lightning already made his heart stutter with panic.

"You're coming home pretty late."

Danny paused in the doorway to the front room. "Oh, not holed up in your room studying?" He grinned as he walked over to the couch and dropped down next to his sister. "Is this the first sign of the apocalypse? Should I be practicing my zombie killing methods?"

"Oh, shut up!" Jazz gave him a shove, which earned a laugh from her brother. "So you ended up going to the hospital after all? What did they say about Mr. Technus?"

"Basically what we already know. Oh, but that reminds me!" Danny dug his phone out of his pocket. "I should tell Tucker about my visit."

"I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing you thought of doing when you left." Jazz lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Um," Danny cringed with a weak smile, "I got distracted." He shrank away under the hard glare from his sister. "Oh, look. Homework. I should do that." He finished typing his text and sent it to Tucker. Jazz rolled her eyes at him before they both settled into a comfortable silence while they worked on their homework.

* * *

**Mischievious Kiss27**: XD For a moment, I was like "? Dan wasn't mentioned." XD;;;

**Tetractys**: Mysterious things are starting to happen in Amity Park. Who can say if they're all connected somehow? XD;; I promise, Danny is definitely going to be starting his role as Phantom. Soon. Ish? I think. XD;;

**midnight**: Maybe? XD Or Spectra might just make things worse. XD;; Things with Jazz will, uh, be explained eventually.

**HawkeyeLover**: Gregor! *shakes angry fist* All in good time with Dan. All in good time. 8)

**demonix19**: I hadn't considered that. XD;;

**kirahphantom**: Jazz is being pretty sneaky, huh? XD Most ghosts are still human right now. And most will probably stay human? Depending on how the story goes. XD;;

**The freedom girl**: It's a shame Cujo didn't get to be in the show more. D: Sometimes, Sam really hates her life. orz *pats Sam* Walker being chief of police would probably be hell for everyone. XD;; I've been forgetting about Bertrand... Whoops. orz


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"You're going out now?" Danny frowned as his sister pulled on her coat. Admittedly, he planned on leaving now to make it to the meeting place on the card so he would arrive before the time listed. Their parents had gone to the laboratory after washing up the dinner dishes to work on a few projects before calling it a night. Danny had expected his sister to go to her room to study, giving him the perfect opportunity to sneak out and avoid any awkward questions about where he was going.

"I promised to tutor Dash tonight."

Danny's brow creased when he heard the answer. "But didn't you do that after school?"

Jazz paused at the front door then turned to face her brother. "No, Dash was busy after school so we planned to meet later."

"Isn't it kind of late for a tutor session?" Danny folded his arms, lifting his eyebrows in a curious expression, as he leaned against the wall by the stairs.

"Like I said. Dash was busy after school. This is when he was available to meet for tutoring." Jazz placed her hands on her hips as she gave him her usual stern stare. "And have you finished all of your homework?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You don't have to keep asking me. I'm perfectly capable of getting all my homework done without you hovering over me to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"All right." Jazz held up her hands in surrender, but she smiled a little. "Don't stay up late playing video games though."

"With how Dash has a major crush on you, are you sure this isn't some lame setup by him to turn this tutor session into a date?" Danny wouldn't be surprised if Dash actually came up with an idea like that, though he would bet Kwan had a hand in suggesting the whole thing.

"I think I'm perfectly capable of making sure a guy knows it's not a date. And if Dash tries anything," Jazz clapped one hand over a bicep and punched the other fist into the air, "he'll regret it."

Danny laughed. "Okay. I'm sorry. I forgot how much your headlocks hurt."

"Come over here, and I'll give you a reminder."

Danny backed up a step, holding his hands out before him. "I remember just fine without a demonstration."

Jazz grinned as she lowered her arms. "Good. Then I'll see you later." She turned and opened the front door then left.

_I'd still be worried about this whole late night tutoring with Dash if I thought he had any chance with Jazz_, Danny thought with a shake of his head. He walked into the front room like he was going to play video games, but he simply wanted to be able to watch Jazz leave from the window. Once she was gone, he would sneak off to the meeting place. _Too bad I didn't get the ability to fly too. That would be so handy for this_. He had checked the bus schedule earlier, and the nearest one that would take him downtown was still twenty minutes away.

Thunder boomed overhead.

Danny jumped to his feet, his heart beating fast in his chest. "Just had to storm tonight, huh?" He raked a shaky hand through his hair. The thunder wasn't what bothered him. It was the lightning he knew would come with it. He hadn't caught any flashes yet, but according to the weather woman tonight, they could expect to see some lightning. "I'm going to be as bad as Tucker with hospitals if I don't just face this problem."

After he took a deep breath to compose himself, Danny headed for the front door. His parents would probably be in the laboratory for the rest of the night, so Danny wasn't worried about them catching him out past curfew. He just had to hope he made it back home before Jazz did.

Locking the door behind him when he left, Danny jogged down the street toward the bus stop. He had allowed for some extra time so even with Jazz stalling him, he would be able to reach the stop before the bus arrived. Once he was on the bus, which was virtually empty at that late hour, he pulled out the card from his pocket. A skull and flowers? It still seemed like a strange logo to him. Maybe it had some sort of rock or punk meaning to it that he simply didn't understand? Turning it over, he stared at the address. He had programmed it into his phone for directions, but he didn't recognize the location that came up.

What was this all about? Who were the men who met up with Ember anyway? Danny lifted his head slightly and frowned. He had forgotten to ask Kyle what the men even looked like. He couldn't do anything about that now. He didn't even have a way to contact Kyle, another thing he had overlooked. Next time he would have to be smarter about those kinds of things. _Not that I want there to _be_ a next time_, he thought as he shoved the card back into his pocket.

The bus arrived at a stop downtown near the location on the card with little event, but the thunder continued to rumble overhead. Danny hunched up his shoulders as he walked the dark streets. He passed by a club along the way, and despite it being a week night, he saw a line of people in their early twenties waiting to get inside as loud music could be heard from outside. None of them paid him any mind as he crossed the street away from the club and rounded the corner. He checked the directions on his phone. If he walked up three more blocks and turned right then walked another five blocks, he would arrive at the mystery location.

When he got within a block of the location, Danny moved to the shadows, glad he had thought to wear darker clothing for this. He arrived earlier than the time on the card by a few minutes, but he remained cautious in case the people meeting here were early rather than late. The street was clear of anyone, but if he was meeting some creepy men under suspicious circumstances, he probably wouldn't meet them right out front of the location on the card. Danny paused just to the side of the building and craned his head upward to stare at it.

The doors bore the logo of Dalv Pharmaceuticals. Danny puzzled over that detail. The name wasn't one he recognized, certainly not as big a company as the Manson's company. But it seemed like an odd meeting place for a musician. Danny would have expected Ember to use something more like the club he passed on the way here as a meeting spot. Why would two men want to meet Ember here? But the logo on the doors didn't match the picture on the card, which was only another mystery for Danny to solve.

The crunch of wheels pulled him from the headache of trying to understand why Ember would be here, and Danny ducked into the alley between Dalv Pharmaceuticals and the building next door to avoid being seen. When the car passed by without stopping, he released the breath he was holding.

"Okay," Danny mumbled to himself as the first drops of rain fell upon his head. "If I were meeting some weird guys that approached with a death card, would I really be meeting them out front?" Something told him no, especially when he considered the idea that they weren't here to buy anything. The news stories about the robberies popped into his mind, and Danny turned his gaze down the alley toward the back of the buildings. "Nope. I'd meet them back there."

The rain came down as a light drizzle. Lightning streaked through the sky in the distance, and Danny managed to count to thirteen as he walked before the thunder rumbled, something to focus on rather than the panic building in his chest. He squeezed his hands into tight fists, his nails biting into his palms. He wanted to say he was over the trauma of being electrocuted in his parents' machine, but he wasn't. Logically, he knew that flash of lightning was miles and miles away from him and he had no reason to be scared. But from the first instant it lit up the sky, Danny felt a tremble seize his body and refuse to let go of him.

"Just go already!"

Danny halted at the edge of the building. He didn't recognize the voice, and he doubted it was Ember since the voice sounded rather masculine. Could it be one of the men who approached Ember?

"Will just listen to me for a minute?"

Danny's jaw practically hit the ground. His surprise drove back the fear and panic even as another streak of lightning shot through the dark clouds overhead. What was Jazz doing here? She was supposed to be tutoring Dash right now. Danny jerked back a step as it struck him: Jazz lied to him!

"You don't get it!" the man shouted back. "I don't _want_ to listen."

Shaking out of his shock, Danny pushed away from the wall and rounded the corner. "Hey!" he shouted to get their attention. The man wasn't someone that stood out in Danny's mind. The rain was already ruining his uneven Mohawk, and he had tattoos snaking up his neck, the only ones Danny could see with the leather jacket the man wore. He seemed like he might fit in with the Goth crowd Sam sometimes liked to hang out with over at the Skulk and Lurk bookstore.

Jazz spun around with her aqua colored eyes wide. "Danny! What are you doing here?"

"I came here to - Hey!" Danny's mouth pursed as he narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Don't turn this around on me. You lied about tutoring. What are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm trying to talk to Spike-"

"I don't need you to help me," the man shouted. "Both of you need to get out of here. Now!"

"Spike, if you would just let me talk," Jazz pleaded.

"Jazz, why would you lie to me?" Danny could ignore not knowing what this was all about, but it hurt to know his sister lied to him.

"Danny, I just wanted-"

The flash of lightning and quickly following boom of thunder surprised him. Danny jumped back with a fearful gasp as his heart hammered in his chest. Jazz's brow creased with concern, and she reached out a hand toward him, but Danny jerked away from her grasp.

"Danny, what's going on?" Some of the concern faded from Jazz's expression as anger flickered in her eyes. "And don't play dumb with me. I can tell when something's up. You and your friends have been whispering about something, and you might think you're being secretive, but you're not. It's so painfully obvious. And now you're jumping at a bit of thunder? Danny, you've never been scared of thunder."

Danny flinched, mostly because his sister had hit the nail on the head with him keeping secrets from her. "You're going to turn this around on me when you were keeping secrets too?"

"This seems like a conversation you two should have, alone, somewhere else," the man suggested. "Perhaps over coffee. I'm pretty sure there's a coffee shop just a few blocks away."

"Danny, if you just give me one minute-"

"No." Danny shook his head. He doubted Ember would turn up at this point if she hadn't come already. Even if Ember and the two men _did_ show up, they would probably be frightened off by their arguing. "Friend's not coming, so this was a waste of time. I might as well just go home." He realized he was being childish. He and Jazz were equals in their lies to each other. The difference was that even if he felt like he was ready to talk to Jazz about his accident and the results of it, Danny wasn't going to say anything in front of a complete stranger. "I'll see you whenever you get home."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Danny turned to walk back the way he came. Jazz called out to stop him, but she was torn between chasing after him and dealing with the man who seemed eager to get rid of them. And what was the deal with that man anyway? Why did Jazz want to meet up with him? Why were they meeting at some pharmaceutical company? Danny rubbed at his forehead as he walked through the alley back toward the street. All these questions without answers were giving him a headache, and he was still no closer to discovering what happened to Ember.

The rain came down harder as he neared the street. Thunder rumbled, but thankfully no lightning struck again. Danny glance toward the sky, half expecting to see a bolt of lightning racing down in a jaggy line toward him. His heart gave a hiccup, and he shuddered. He kept his mind focused on getting home where he could drown out the sounds of the storm with his headphones. Because if he didn't have something to concentrate his thoughts on, the times lightning flashed through the sky would render him unable to take another step out of the overwhelming memory of being trapped in the machine and struck a million times over by electricity.

A chill wrapped around him, drawing out a gasp. His feet felt glued to the spot, and the sensation of ice crawled over his heart like frost gathering over a window pane. He had grown accustomed to the small chills creeping up his spine when something was about to happen, usually Dash or one of the other jocks wanting to rough him up a bit in the name of bullying. But this feeling, this overwhelming sense of dread, reminded him too much of what he felt right before the explosion at the football game. Was something like that about to happen again?

_BANG!_

Danny's heart leapt into his throat as his eyes grew wide. He couldn't breathe, like the gunshot had punched him right in his gut and knocked out all the air in him. The heavy raindrops felt like pellets of hail striking at him. Footsteps pounding against the wet ground of the alley was muffled by the downpour. But it was the ringing of the gunshot still in his head that prevented him from acknowledging the approaching person until said person slammed into his shoulder.

It was like watching one of those old black and white movies. All color had washed away. Then the man with the Mohawk stumbled past him, and Danny caught a splattering of a red upon the man's leather jacket. Red? Blood? _Jazz!_ Danny twisted around and sprinted back down the alley. His feet slipped and slid beneath him, and he nearly dove face first into the hard pavement more than a few times before he reached the end of the alley and turned the corner. His legs trembled beneath him as he stumbled over to where the body laid on the ground.

"Jazz," Danny said in a broken voice, his chest feeling so tight his lung could barely draw a breath. He dropped to his knees and circled his arms around his sister's body, pressing his hands to the wound to help stop the bleeding from her abdomen. "Jazz! Oh sh-" Panic ate at him as he watched the dark blood mixing with the rain washing over his hands. He couldn't make the bleeding stop!

"Dan-" Jazz's voice was barely a croak as her eyes opened, her brow a deep furrow. She stared up at him, and Danny's eyes burned with tears.

"It's okay. It's going to be okay." Danny wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure his sister or himself. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone, quickly dialing 911. "My sister's been shot," he said in a rush the second someone had answered the call. "We're behind Dalv Pharmaceuticals on Madison Avenue, and she's bleeding out a lot. Please hurry!"

"I'm s-sorry." Jazz closed her eyes, her face twisting in a painful grimace. "For keeping s-secrets."

Danny shook his head. "I was keeping secrets too. I shouldn't have, but I just didn't know how to tell you."

Jazz wore a watery smile as she laughed, which turned into a cough that made her brother wince. "I figured you would tell me when you were ready. You always did. Danny," she opened her eyes again and stared like she was searching for something in her brother's eyes, "I - I know you're going to become a really great man." She reached up and touched a bloody hand to Danny's cheek. "I'm really proud to be your sister."

His phone clattered upon the ground as Danny took his sister's hand. "I'm the one who should be proud to be your brother." He blinked away the tears blurring his vision. "Just hang on, okay? The ambulance should be here any minute. Just-" His voice hitched, and he struggled to get the words past the lump forming in his throat. "Just stay with me. I promise I'll tell you everything. So just - Just stay!" Danny squeezed Jazz's hand tightly, but there was no response.

* * *

**BringbackDannyPhantom**: I can assure you Kyle wasn't doing it for some sinister purpose. XD;; It was more an accidental thing because he couldn't get up the courage to talk to her.

**Tetractys**: Dan definitely needs to turn up more. XD;; Hopefully that happens soon. The head hunter thing was meant to be a joke, one Danny wouldn't get because he doesn't know that Dan is the one who chopped off that employee's head.

**Guest**: Bertrand might show up! XD I'm still working out how and when he might turn up. Everyone just wants to see Ember smack the crap out of Kyle the stalker, huh? XD I'm struggling with a good idea for a thank you gift Danny could get Kwan. orz Skulker will be turning up at some point. =)

**HawkeyeLover**: Danny's the king of smooth. XD

**kirahphantom**: Big bad Dan is on the loose! Quick, Danny, go stop him! XD

**midnight**: Ha ha. XD One of the few times it was useful. But still no less creepy.

**The freedom girl**: I'd say no, but that would be lying. XD Dang it, Dan! You're not going to make your boy happy if he learns about that! We didn't get many of those moments, huh? D: I think Pirate Radio was about it? I debated making Kyle an actual character from the show but decided to make him an OC in the end.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

What happened after was a blur, and Danny barely acknowledged what was going on around him. The sirens of the ambulance were a dull ringing in his ears. Questions were asked as the paramedics pulled Jazz free from his hold. But Danny couldn't seem to piece together anything they were saying, like the ability to understand words had fallen out of his head.

Then he was at the hospital. Danny couldn't remember even moving from the spot behind Dalv Pharmaceuticals, but apparently, the paramedics had coaxed him to get up and join them in the ambulance. Once they got to the hospital, someone was kind enough to give him a clean pair of scrubs so he wouldn't be sitting around in his wet clothes, which were in a plastic bag beside him. Nothing seemed real to him. His whole body felt numb, but he wasn't sure if that was an after effect of what happened or from being in the icy rain for as long as he was.

Reality came crashing back down on him, though, when his parents arrived, drawing him into hugs. Then the doctor met with them, and Danny thought for sure this was some big elaborate joke because it couldn't be real. Jazz was dead. Danny felt winded again, a thousand knives seeming to pierce his lungs with each shaky, ragged breath. His mother sobbed into his father's chest, and his father merely nodded to what the doctor said. Danny could see his father was trying to stay strong, to keep from breaking down too so he could comfort his wife.

"Danny, it's important that you tell us what happened."

Danny lifted his head and found Police Chief Gray kneeling before him. Why was the Chief of Police here? His sister was murdered, that thought weighed heavily on his mind, making his brain feel sluggish. But he didn't understand why the Police Chief would be involved in a murder. Didn't he usually only work bigger cases?

"Why were you at Dalv Pharmaceuticals tonight?" Police Chief Gray had a pad of paper out and ready for taking down notes while he questioned Danny.

"Maybe you can do this later," his father suggested with a troubled crease in his brow. "We just lost our daughter. I think questioning our son can wait."

"I apologize if I seem insensitive, but it's usually best to question witnesses while things are still fresh in their minds." Police Chief Gray had probably dealt with situations like this in the past. Danny knew, somewhere in his head, that the man had a point. If they waited to question him, Danny might forget details or remember things wrong. It made the most sense to ask him while everything was still vivid in his mind.

"I went there to look for someone," Danny explained in a dull voice. "I don't know why Jazz was there."

"To look for someone?" Police Chief Gray repeated, his mouth thinning into a frown.

"What do you mean?" his mother demanded as she wiped tears from her eyes. "Couldn't you wait until it was day? Why did you have to go looking for someone at night?"

"I didn't know this was going to happen!" Danny shouted, anger bubbling under the surface of his grief. He wasn't angry with his parents though. He was angry with himself. He had these stupid ghost powers, but they did nothing to help him save his sister when she needed him most. Dropping his head in this hands, he fought the tears burning in his eyes. Jazz said she was proud to be his sister. But what had he ever done to make her proud? Danny choked back a sob, fingers tangling in his raven locks. "I only went there because I thought maybe Ember would turn up there!"

"Ember? That's the teen singer that's gone missing recently, isn't it?" Police Chief Gray tapped at his pad with his pen. "What made you think Ember would show up Dalv Pharmaceuticals tonight?"

"Someone," Danny couldn't keep the tremble out of his voice as he blinked hot tears from his eyes, "told me they saw Ember talking with some men before and she dropped a card they gave her. It had Dalv Pharmaceuticals' address on it saying to meet tonight at eleven. Instead of finding Ember, I ran into Jazz."

"Why would Jazz be there?" his mother questioned, and when he lifted his head, Danny could see the tears streaked down her face. It hurt to see his parents in so much pain.

"I don't know." Danny shook his head. "I really don't have any idea why she was there."

"Danny, was there anyone else present at the time? Or was it just you and your sister?" Police Chief Gray rested a hand on Danny's shoulder, but it offered the teenager little comfort.

"No, there was a guy there. But I wasn't really paying attention to him." Danny replayed everything that happened tonight, but he had a difficult time trying to picture the man.

"Is there anything at all that you can remember about this man? Any little detail might help us track him down." Police Chief Gray waited at the ready to take down description details. "You mentioned you didn't see what happened when your sister was shot. This man might have seen who did it."

"Or he could have been the shooter," his father added blunted, an edge of rage in his voice Danny wasn't used to hearing.

Danny lowered his gaze, feeling even more like a failure to his sister. He _needed_ to remember the man that was with his sister. He couldn't allow his sister's killer to walk free. Biting down hard on his lower lip, Danny fought through his memories, trying to put together an image of the man. "I think he had tattoos on his neck, but I couldn't really make out what they were. And he sort of had a Mohawk, though the rain was ruining the look."

Police Chief Gray frowned as he wrote down the details. "That's a vague description."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying! But I just can't remember anything else." Danny's shoulders sagged in defeat.

"It's okay." Police Chief Gray patted him on the shoulder. "Things happen too fast sometimes for us to fully process all the details. You're doing the best you can, and that's all I, or anyone else, can ask of you. So don't be too hard on yourself." He stood up, pocketing his notepad and pen. "If you remember anything else though, please do contact the police. We'll do everything we can to find your sister's killer and bring them to justice."

Danny merely nodded in response as Police Chief Gray pulled his parents aside to talk to them privately for a moment. When the doctor let them see Jazz, Danny couldn't bring himself to get up from the plastic chair in the hall. He failed to protect his sister. He fought himself not to curl up in a ball right there and cry like a pathetic loser. The car ride home was silent with a grim cloud of sorrow hanging over them.

His parents allowed him to stay home from school until he felt ready to return. But after a day of watching his parents make plans for the funeral and listening to his mother talk, mostly cry, on the phone to his aunt, Danny had to get out of the house. He needed to focus his mind on something other than Jazz's death, or he knew he would break down crying, again, like he had after they got home from the hospital.

"Are you sure?" his mother had asked before he left the house. "It's okay if you want to stay home another day."

"I'm fine," Danny mumbled before closing the door behind him. Jazz wouldn't want him to slack off on his studies, he tried to convince himself. Education had always been important to her. But he was scared of what lay ahead of him at school. By now, everyone must have heard about what happened. Maybe not the full details, but they certainly would have heard word about Jazz's death. He almost turned around to find someplace to hide out for the day, but he forced himself to continue to the school.

The doors to school looked more intimidating to him than on his first day of high school. Danny didn't want to see the looks people would give him. He didn't want their empty sympathies. But he would have to face them eventually. Taking a deep breath, he yanked open the front doors of the school and entered the building. The first people to see him fell silent, watching like they were waiting for him to break down into a blubbering baby curling up in the fetus position in the middle of the hall while he cried in anguish. Danny set his jaw and continued down the hall toward his locker.

"Danny!" His friends nearly knocked him over when they saw him and rushed over to hug him. Some of the tension relaxed out of him in that moment, and he hated himself for taking comfort in his friends because he didn't deserve it when he had done nothing to save his sister.

"Are you sure you should be back at school?" Sam asked, squeezing his arm as she frowned. "I mean, after-" She had trouble getting the words out.

"Yeah, I'm - Yeah." Danny nodded his head. When he managed to pull away from his friends, he opened his locker to get his books for class. "So what did I miss? Any big homework projects or tests I need to make up?"

"Danny, shouldn't you-"

"Well, look who decided to show up today."

Danny ground his teeth at the sound of Dash's obnoxious voice. The last thing he needed to deal with today was Dash being a big time bully to him. "Not now, Dash," he muttered as he slammed the locker closed.

"Leave him alone, Dash," Sam ordered, folding her arms as she glared at the jock.

"Yeah!" Tucker joined in. "Can't you give him a break? His sister just died."

"Let's just go to class." Danny nudged his friends to start walking down the hall and away from the jock. He barely got a step past the blond blockhead before Dash grabbed hold of his arm. Anger flared through him. Danny twisted around with his free arm pulled back and his hand closed into a tight fist. A strong arm caught him around the waist and yanked him back before he could deal a blow to the surprised jock. He blinked in confusion, knowing neither of his friends would be strong enough to hold him back, especially while he was angry.

"Your parents are already dealing with the death of your sister," Lancer said in a calm, quiet voice close to Danny's ear. "Do you really want to add your expulsion from school to their list of troubles?"

Danny relaxed, the rage melting out of him. "No," he mumbled in defeat. His parents were already hurting enough without him adding disappointment to the list.

"Good." Lancer released his hold on Danny. "Now then, I think-"

"You must be Daniel Fenton," Ms. Spectra said, and Danny flinched at her voice and again when she placed a hand on his shoulder. He hadn't even noticed her arrival in the hall. "I heard what happened, and I," she touched her other hand to her chest, "am here to listen to you."

"I don't-" Danny said, anger rising into his voice, but he stopped when Lancer gave him a nudge in the back and a sharp, green eyed glare telling him to be polite, even if the teacher didn't approve of the counselor. "I mean, I'm not ready to talk about things yet," he forced out through gritted teeth.

Even if he was ready to talk to someone about his sister's death, he wouldn't choose Ms. Spectra. He would seek Lancer out after school because he trusted his teacher far more than this new counselor, who he was fairly certain was glaring daggers at Lancer from behind her glasses. That look only made Danny even more certain that he didn't want to speak with Ms. Spectra, about anything.

"Come on." Danny grabbed his friends' hands. "Let's go."

"Danny," Sam spoke up when they were farther down the hall, "is it true? Were you there when - When Jazz-"

"I'd really rather not talk about-" Danny froze in the middle of the hall. Ahead of them, he spotted a group of teenagers, some dressed in leather jackets and some with punkish styled hair. One woman had vibrant neon green hair, and a man with shoulder length blond hair had his arm thrown over her shoulders as they talked with their friends. No one in the group was familiar to him, but simply seeing them with their wild hairstyles and style of clothing brought the memory of Monday night back to the forefront of his mind.

"What's wrong?" Tucker's brow wrinkled with concern for his friend.

Danny shook his head. "It's just - I remembered the guy that was there that night. I wasn't really paying attention, and I don't know who he is. But I've seen him before. My sister was chasing after him in the hall. He goes to our school." His hands curled into fists, and his nails bit into his palms, his knuckles aching from how tightly he clenched his fists.

"Danny." Sam placed herself before him, worry written in her expression. "What are you planning?"

"Obviously, I'm going to track down that guy," Danny snapped back, flecks of green appearing before his eyes.

"And do _what_?" Sam demanded, nearly shouted, drawing a few eyes of passing students. She stood at the ready to hold him back if she needed to, and if this was before he got his ghost powers, Danny knew she could do it. But now he had strength and the ability to turn intangible on his side. If they weren't standing in the middle of the crowded hall, Sam wouldn't be able to stop him from hunting down the man Danny saw Jazz with that night.

"Danny," Tucker whispered urgently, tugging on his friend's arm as he glanced around in panic, "your eyes."

Blinking, Danny realized he hadn't even noticed when his eyes shifted. He relaxed, somewhat, as his gaze wandered around the hall and he focused on what he was seeing. It reminded him of the night of the explosion at school. He saw little green blobs all around him, but now they looked like more than simple spots from afar. Many of them still had no shape, but others looked like tiny cats and bunnies. One even appeared to be a mini octopus. Danny almost couldn't believe the sight. Closing his eyes, he took a calming breath, feeling his eyes return to normal.

"Sorry," Danny said as he opened his eyes. The ghostly green blobs and animals had vanished. "I'm okay now." He wanted to tell his friends about it, but he couldn't sprout out stuff about ghosts and his powers in the middle of the school hall. This new bit of information would have to wait until he could catch his friends alone.

"We know this hard on you." Sam squeezed his arm.

"Yeah, but don't forget you have us," Tucker said as he patted Danny's shoulder. "You're not alone."

Danny threw his arms around his friends and drew them into a hug as the morning bell rang. "Thanks."

* * *

**Mischievious Kiss27**: No! D: Don't be destroyed! *uses phoenix down to revive you* D:

**BringbackDannyPhantom**: Danny can be a bit slow picking up on the obvious clues. XD;;

**HawkeyeLover**: And I was having such fun with the Danny and Jazz interactions! *sobs*

**DB-KT**: I know! D: I'm evil. DX Take my keyboard away before I write even more awful stuff! orz

**Tetractys**: Poor Danny! *holds him* Well, he definitely is wanting some revenge, or at least bringing Jazz's killer to justice!

**Guest**: D: I'm sorry! *hands a box of tissues*

**The freedom girl**: You'd want to think things can't possibly get worse... *whistles innocently before running away* Well, at least Danny should be taking up the mantle of Phantom soon, yeah? XD;;

**ECTOglo**: It hurt so much writing that! *cries* I love Jazz. I didn't want her to go! DX

**Simplegayme**: Drama! Drama everywhere! D: Danny, I think someone's crushing on you. ;)


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Danny felt anxious as he walked through the doorway into his first class. School seemed unimportant when he had his sister's killer to hunt down. His hands clenched at his sides as he headed for his seat. Right now, Jazz's killer could be sitting down in class like nothing had even happened and thinking he got away with it. Why didn't he do anything when the man ran past him in the alley? He could have grabbed him, knocked him out, or something. But hearing the gunshot had left him too in shock to respond to anything.

When he sat down, Danny's brow furrowed as he stared at the folded piece of paper on his desk. The appearance of the note confused him even more when he flipped it open to read the familiar, almost illegible, handwriting belonging to the jock sitting next to him and currently staring a little too intently at the front of the classroom. He shot a glance toward Dash but was ignored. What happened earlier in the hall was another reason he felt anxious about coming to class. Dash might have toned down the bullying recently. But how was he going to respond to Danny attempting to punch him? Danny swallowed thickly, reading over the note again. He had a bad feeling about Dash telling him to hang back after class.

Concentrating on class was virtually impossible for him with both Dash and the killer on his mind. His gaze kept flicking to the clock, and his foot shook impatiently as the time refused to pass any faster. Mr. Green droned on, his voice so dull he put much of the class to sleep. The bell ringing at the end of class was the only thing to wake everyone up as they rushed to gather up their things and hurry to their next class before the late bell.

He was ready to follow after everyone else, but when he caught a sharp glare from Dash, Danny hung back, tensing for whatever beating Dash had planned. His jaw set hard as he eyed the jock warily. Dash stood between him and the door. If he had to, Danny was pretty sure his ghost enhanced strength would give him the winning advantage in a fight, if he dared to use it. But did he want to risk it if he lost control and threw a harder punch than he meant to? If he could dent his metal door handle, he could probably do some serious damage to Dash.

"Do we have to do this?" Danny demanded, his mouth pursing and his eyes narrowing.

"You were going to punch me earlier." Dash folded his arms, looking like some kind of bouncer at a club who was refusing to let the loser nerd inside. His expression was grim, which didn't give Danny any good feelings about this meeting. "It felt good, didn't it? Putting all the hurt into anger and wanting to release it with your fists?"

Danny shifted his weight, watching for any hint of Dash going on the attack. "What is it that you want, Dash?" If he was going to have to wait until the end of school to search for Jazz's killer, then he should at least show up to his classes without being several minutes late.

Dash sighed, dropping his arms to his sides. "I overheard you chatting with your friends."

"What?" Danny paled, panic settling in and pushing out the annoyance and worry. How much had Dash heard? Wait. Had he and his friends let anything slip about his powers? Danny thought back to the conversation earlier in the hall, but he couldn't remember if they said anything outright about his powers.

"You said you thought Jazz's killer was someone who went to our school."

His mouth pulled downward as Danny debated how much he should tell Dash. "Yeah," he said with some uncertainty, "some punk looking guy. Mohawk," he made a gesture with one hand over his head to indicate a Mohawk, "and tattoos. But I don't know who he is."

Dash nodded, an oddly thoughtful look crossing his face. "If I had to make a guess, I would say you're talking about Spike."

Danny stared, his mouth nearly dropping open. "That - That's it! Jazz called him Spike that night!" How could he have forgotten that? But a lot of details about that night were foggy in his head. Only Dash saying the name had reminded Danny of the name Jazz mentioned.

Dash hardly looked surprised by Danny's exclamation. "I don't really know what was going on between them, but I saw Jazz with him a few times around school. They seemed to be arguing whenever I saw them together. I don't know much about the guy other than his name is Spike."

"Okay." Danny nodded, flicking his gaze over Dash. "Uh, so, is that all you wanted to talk to me about?" He saw Dash's jaw clench, a flicker of anger blazing in his dark blue eyes, and Danny tensed, expecting Dash to yell at him and wail on him like the jock had done in the past, but he only felt a faint chill prickling the back of his neck.

"I'm not good with this whole stuff," Dash explained. "But Kwan could probably figure it out. I'll tell him to talk to you if he can figure out where exactly to find this guy." The jock shouldered his bag and turned to classroom door.

"Wait. What?" Danny stumbled a step, struggling to digest what just happened. Dash _wasn't_ going to beat him up for trying to punch him earlier? "That's all? I was going to punch you."

Dash shrugged. "I can't really blame you. Sometimes hitting something is the only real outlet you can find." Without any further explanation, the jock walked out of the classroom, leaving Danny rather dumbfounded and confused.

But Danny didn't have the time to stand around puzzling over what happened between him and Dash. He had to hurry to his next class or he would be late. The talk with Dash had already delayed him enough that he would be cutting it close. Rushing out of the classroom, Danny jogged down the hall for his next class. When he turned the corner, he nearly rammed right into another person but managed to catch himself in time.

"Sorry," Danny said quickly as he skirted around the short man standing outside the counselor's office. Continuing down the hall, he frowned in thought, certain he didn't recognized the mustached man. He reached his next class seconds before the late bell rang and breathed a sigh of relief as he took his seat and settled in for the long wait until lunch.

"I need to tell you both something," Danny said, catching his friends before they could head toward the cafeteria for lunch. Waiting for classes to end had felt endless, and Danny almost couldn't sit through all of them. His leg would bounce anxiously, and the people sitting closest to him kept shooting him dirty looks. But now he finally had the opportunity to drag his friends off to a quiet spot in the school and tell them about what he saw earlier.

"What is it, Danny?" Sam asked, but he shook his head. When Danny headed down the hall, his friends followed him in silence.

Danny waited until they found a quiet corner in the library hidden behind the bookshelves and well removed from the crowd usually hanging out in the library. He and his friends sat down on the floor and leaned in close to whisper to one another. After taking a breath to collect his thoughts, Danny spoke.

"Something weird happened earlier." He glanced between his friends, both waiting expectantly for him to continue. "When my eyes shifted in the hall, I saw something. Well, quite a few somethings."

"Sounding a little creepy," Tucker said with a wary look in his green eyes.

"What exactly did you see?" Sam's brow creased, but her violet eyes were focused in that way she had when she was studying and trying to absorb all the information into her brain.

"Well," Danny frowned, scratching the back of his head, "they kind of looked like blobs, though some of them had animal forms. I think they were ghosts." He held up a hand before his friends could respond. "I saw them before when the explosion happened. Except then, I was too far away to really see anything other than specks in the sky."

"We didn't see anything," Tucker blurted out.

"My eyes were shifted both times it happened," Danny explained, "but when they went back to normal, I couldn't see the ghosts anymore."

"So," Sam sat up a bit straighter, frowning in thought as she held her chin in one hand, "ghosts exist, but on a spectrum normal people can't see. And since Danny has these ghost powers, when he turns ghost, he's able to see this spectrum that's invisible to us so he's able to see the ghosts."

"That's what I was thinking too." Danny nodded, almost wanting to spill this new information to his parents.

But then he would have to explain how he came to discover this bit of information, which he wasn't exactly ready to do. But knowing ghosts existed on a spectrum invisible to human eyes would have a huge impact on his parents' work. If they could figure out a way to see the spectrum on which ghosts were visible, then they could find ghosts on their own, and wouldn't need to keep working on the machine to break open a portal to the realm where ghosts resided. Could that be the reason it didn't work? Other than the fact that Danny was _in_ the machine when it was turned on, it might have failed to open a portal because ghosts didn't exist in an alternate dimension.

With a frown, Danny looked at his friends. "My eyes didn't shift when Jazz-" His throat squeezed tight, refusing to say it. He shook his head. "What - What if Jazz turned into a ghost? What if she was there and I missed my chance to see her?" The ache in his chest grew, and he fought back the burning sensation of coming tears. Maybe if he returned to that spot and used his powers, he would be able to find Jazz.

"Yeah, but-" Tucker frowned as he glanced toward Sam for help.

"Danny, there's no guarantee that a person becomes a ghost when they die, is there?" Sam had that cute little furrow in her brow, but her eyes were filled with worry.

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, his shoulders sagging in defeat. It was a pathetic hope, but he just - He wanted to see his sister one last time, tell her everything he didn't get a chance to say while she was still alive.

"It - It would be really great if Jazz was still here," Sam said, struggling to find the right thing to say to comfort her friend. "But I don't think Jazz would want you to spend your life searching for her ghost, especially if she," Sam hesitated, "didn't become a ghost when she died."

Danny knew Sam had a point. He could waste his entire life trying to find Jazz's ghost, but he would never find her if she had passed over, or whatever happened when a person died, instead of becoming a ghost. "You're right," he said with a sigh. "But what I _should_ be searching for is her killer." His mouth pressed into a grim line as he stared at his friends with determination in his blue eyes. "I'm not going to let this guy get away with it." His fierce determination to bring his sister's killer to justice was ruined by the growl from his stomach.

"But before that, lunch," Tucker said, sitting back as he raised a finger. "Because you can't hunt down killers on an empty stomach."

The three friends stood and headed out of the library. Danny hadn't realized how hungry he was. When he left the house that morning, he hadn't eaten more than a slice of toast, and since he got home from the hospital, he hadn't _felt_ hungry. Now it hit him with full force, his sides aching and his stomach rumbling in demand of the food he missed. Tucker might have been trying to alleviate the grim situation with humor, but if he was going to be any use finding his sister's killer, Danny needed to eat and stay healthy. How could he face the man who killed Jazz if he was about to pass out from hunger?

In the cafeteria, Danny didn't have much of a chance to continue talking to his friends on his recent discovery about his powers and ghosts or about Jazz's murder. His appetite was somewhat lost when he first entered the cafeteria, and almost at once, a hush fell over the other students. With all the eyes upon him, watching his every move, Danny had a hard time eating, but he forced himself to focus on his food rather than the prying eyes. Once the bell rang, he lost all chance to discuss things more with his friends because they had to part ways to go to different classes.

"I do hope you're not pushing yourself too hard," Lancer said, approaching him at the end of his final class. "We understand if you need to take some time away from school to grieve. We would be happy to keep sending your assignments home to you with one of your friends."

"No, I-" Danny shook his head, relieved that Lancer wasn't pressing him into spilling his guts about what happened like this was some therapy session. He was definitely not ready to talk about all the details yet. "Well, I would be lying if I said I was fine." Lancer nodded with understanding in his green eyes. "But I'll be okay. In time." He took a shaky breath. "I still expect her to come jogging into the room looking for me to say she has some club meeting or tutoring thing and can't drive me home today. Or something." The corner of his mouth twitch, but he couldn't quite bring himself to smile at the memories.

Lancer placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "No matter how grim things look, just keep going. The road might be dark, and you may stumble a lot and get frustrated, but if you just keep moving forward, you'll find a way to make it through the hardest of times."

"Thanks, Mr. Lancer." His teacher's words were by no means a magic cure to take away all his pain, but Danny appreciated that Lancer was trying to help without being overbearing about it. He had a feeling if it was Ms. Spectra, she would keep pressuring him into talking even when he made it clear he wasn't ready. "I'll see you tomorrow." He headed for the classroom door, but he paused and turned back to Lancer. "And I'll be sure to keep up with my homework." He lowered his gaze. "And it's not burying the grief by distracting myself or anything. I know Jazz would want me to do the very best I can in school."

Lancer nodded with a small curl of his mouth. "Then I'll be expecting top marks from you. Because I know you can make Jazz proud."

Danny managed to give his teacher a small ghost of a smile. Then he bobbed his head and left the classroom, feeling maybe just a little lighter after his talk with Lancer.

* * *

**Sakural7865**: I'm sorry! DX I didn't want to do it! The plot made me!

**Poohbearmorris**: Thanks for liking the story! =D

**YumiStar**: *gives you a gold star* XD The show was already full of similarities to Spider-Man. XD

**The freedom girl**: Danny wants some revenge! *shakes an angry fist to the skies* Revenge shall be his!

**HawkeyeLover**: *sighs* Sometimes, I'm really sad because we could have some great sibling bonding in the show, but instead they would do things like making Danny a brat or Jazz annoying. *glares at Secret Weapons* Jazz knows how to fight, dang it!

**DB-KT**: The problem with taking away my keyboard is that I wouldn't be able to write more to the story. XD Well, Dash hadn't really done anything there?

**Tetractys**: Oh, Dash definitely had feelings for Jazz! No doubt about that. XD

**simplegay me**: *appears out of the shadows* Hello, Danny. I'd like to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative. *shot* XD;; I promise the D is coming! XD *killed*

**BringbackDannyPhantom**: Darn those fatal gunshot wounds! *shakes fist*


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